Men of War
by EZB
Summary: Starts right where Halo 3 left off. Chief is tossed into a new conflict on a new planet. What changes will the Master Chief bring to the struggling war of Sera? X-over with Gears of War
1. So Much For Sleep

"Wake me, when I'm needed."

The Cryogenic-stasis cell closed, and with a hiss of air, sealed itself. Cortana watched it, only becoming increasingly lonely as she watched it freeze him over, preserving him for however long it needed to. She pondered how long it would even be until he would be awakened, if ever. Would he be left here for all time, now a sad remnant of a war, drifting through the cold emptiness of space?

She shook her head, turning away from the unmoving Spartan. Raising a hand, she activated a secondary panel next to the beacon. What was left of the navigational system buzzed and flashed sporadically, static being the only true sight on the panel.

Overriding the system, she opened a secondary path for the information carrier, and got a clearer image. Cortana couldn't recognize the system the wreckage of the frigate drifted to, however, she did spot something strange- a planetoid that had been unnoticed before. As it focused on the planet, strangely enough, it seemed inhabited. Several stations orbited the planet, and the surface itself was covered in buildings.

Only a few seconds passed before she realized why she hadn't noticed it. The damaged systems could detect anything within a million mile radius. And the planet was getting clearer and clearer- the wreckage was being pulled by the planets gravity.

"Oh no." Turning to the still sleeping soldier, and activated the release, having it begin to thaw. While waiting for him to wake up, she watched the planet, trying to remember as much of its physical features as possible.

It wasn't earth, but it certainly similar enough to it. Most of the terrain looked burnt and blackened, with large craters in the cities, which she noticed where in ruins. Outside of the large mazes of rubble, lands ranging from large forests to rivers and two large oceans stretched across the plant.

"How long was I out?" Master Chief had finally woken up, and glanced around for any changes. Stepping out, he returned his visor to look at her.

"About a minute. We're not going to be drifting as long as we thought."

"Oh?"

"A planet just began to pull us into its space. We're going to reach its atmosphere in a matter of hours."

He glanced around again, and finally looked at the screen of the advancing planet. "I'll be right back."

"Chief?"

As he drifted across the hall, floating in the gravity-less environment, he turned briefly before continuing. "I'll be salvaging."

* * *

After about half an hour, the Chief had located what remained of the armory. Loading as many weapons and supplies into the launch pods, he coordinated the landing for the escape pods full of weapons and supplies near the crash site. He would have to work his way back to the ruins of the ship; staying behind as it fell apart was worse than actually jumping at the planet from space. 

He had done it before- jumping from the forerunner ship and landing didn't cost him his life. He had to do it again. A panel nearby fluttered blue with life as Cortana appeared next to him.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yup."

"We don't even know what's waiting for us down there- it could be flood, or humans, or covenant again!"

"What's why I'm taking these." He nodded to the weapons he was tossing into an escape pod. She shook her head, but didn't argue.

"The area around the crash site looks like the ruins of a City- so you need to pick your landing well."

He nodded, and as he did, the hull suddenly buckled. Looking to her, he motioned to her. Nodding, she disappeared into the small chip, and hid slid it into the back of his headpiece.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"Sorta."

He punched at a red button on the wall, and an alarm went off, sounding the launch of the escape pods. A countdown started, and Master Chief waited as it counted down.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Launching Escape pods."

The door in front of him shook slightly as the small vessel shot out with the others. The hull buckled again, and the ship moaned of metal, crying out in an eerie groan.

"Now might be a good time to jump."

He glanced back, and pushed himself down a hallway, which led to the enormous opening to space. The planet, however, took up most of the view.

"Wish me luck." He bent his knees, and spotted his landing zone.

"Good luck."

He jumped.

* * *

"Sir? Could you come here for a second." 

"What do you have?"

"Large inbound unidentified object entering the atmosphere. Several other smaller objects fell earlier, and its just began its fall. After scanning one of the pods, we found this."

"Those are weapons?"

"That's what we thought sir."

"Alright. I want its point of impact. Where's it heading?"

"Its… heading right for sector Fv-7."

"Let me see that object."

"Yes sir… here."

"That… isn't one of ours… or Locust."

"Yes sir. Records indicate early earth frigate. Possibly around Covenant War."

"What's… why… how did something this old get here?"

"Good question sir."

"Alright. I'll contact Colonel Hoffman; he'll have the perfect men for the job to find that little piece of history."

"Yes sir."

"In the meantime, I want you to keep monitoring the path- I want anything useful in thirty minutes. Get going."

"Sir, yes sir."

* * *

Yeah, it's a little short, but hey. Yes, I am aware that there is another GoW/Halo story happenin, but… oh I want to do one too!!! And there's probably more out there that I don't know about still. Now, just let me go- 

(accidentally blows self up with boomer, showing the room with bits and pieces of blood and flesh)


	2. Rise and Shine

"Alright. What is going on?"

The higher ranking officer addressed another man, who held a remote for a projection system.

"Sir, several hours ago, we recorded an explosion in space, about several million miles out. Minutes after the explosion, satellites recorded this." Clicking a small remote, an object was cast in the air. The remains of some sort of ship headed eerily at the planet. "The object seems to be an old model of an old Frigate. Its type doesn't match any kind of recent record."

"How far did we look back?"

"The past five hundred years."

"I want to have more information on this object- look further back. Look at ancient earth records if you must; I don't care how inaccurate they are, I just want them."

"Yes sir."

The man studied the object as it hovered in the empty space of the projection. "How old… how fast is it moving?"

"It will be entering the atmosphere in a matter of minutes."

"Did Gerldan inform Hoffman about this yet?"

"Uh… he said he would."

The senior officer turned slightly, buying time to think. "What does this mean… this thing just appeared out of nothing, possibly older than our records can tell, and now is crashing onto our planet!"

He turned back to the now still image of the remains of the ship.

"Ahem."

The senior officer turned, and Colonel Hoffman stood at a higher platform, looking down at the large empty room they stood in. The classic grizzled and worn leader stood above them, with his equally grizzled face staring at the image.

"Hoffman. I take it you have been informed."

"That I have. I just came to get a more informative assessment."

The senior officer turned to the younger man, and directed information to be spoken.

"What we have found out is that the object is the remains of an old frigate. We estimated it to be around the ancient covenant war, however, we don't have any solid proof, or where it came from, but earlier it launched several smaller objects at the surface."

"Then we could be dealing with anything from people in need of help, to hostiles."

"Yes sir."

The senior officer turned away for another moment, giving time to think. "Hoffman… send in your best. This… thing coming now is a very strange coincidence, and we need to take any and every precaution with it. For all we know there are wounded people in need of help, or like you said, aliens."

"Don't worry Major; I have just the men for the job."

* * *

Marcus Fenix lay in his bed, resting for the moment. The other member of his squadron had fallen asleep long ago, but he remained awake, staring at the blank ceiling of the roof. It had been only three days since they deployed the lightmass bomb, and already things seemed different.

The war seemed to have not needed him for two days, and already he missed the danger of war around him. The subtle peace that he had been introduced to a day and a half ago seemed to only give him more desire to return to the battlefield. He wanted to Fight.

The lights flickered on brightly, and a gruff voice shouted out, "Rise and shine ladies!"

The voice immediate followed Baird cry out as he fell out and onto the floor.

"Time to rise, boys and girls! We got our self a new job to do."

Marcus slowly pushed himself to the side of the bed, glaring around in the new bright light. Cole still was in bed, struggling slightly to remove the covers, as Dom easily jumped out of the bed.

"Isn't it a little early for a game of bingo Colonel?"

"You can play your fun-filled-shit after the objective is completed Santiago. War is all the time, so you had better be with it!"

"Good morning to you to." Replied Marcus under his breath.

"You all will report, ready for action in fifteen minutes! I want no slack!" Hoffman walked off and out of the room, leaving the four to slowly get out and dressed.

"Can you believe this shit? They said we were getting a break" Baird said in cold, angry tones.

"They gave us two days, didn't they." Dom started to get the gear on, slapping parts to check its durability.

"Two days, two shits if you ask me." Baird grumbled, also beginning to slide on the armor and check its strength.

"Two days is all ya need with the train around!" Cole had finally unraveled himself from the mess of bed sheets, and had hurriedly charged over to the others, getting the various things on.

"Wonder what they got us for now."

"Well, whatever it is, if they sent Hoffman to get us directly, and at three in the morning, it must be important." Marcus focused mostly on getting the materials on. Finally, he had his battle equipment suited, and ready for action.

Dom was the second to finish. "And if it's not?"

"Then we are going to be pretty fuckin' tired today."

* * *

Delta Squad finally arrived in Hoffman's space fifteen minutes later. All suited and armed, they looked the same they had not two days ago. Just a little tired.

"Well, aren't you bunch just a bouquet of flowers."

"You don't look bad yourself, Colonel." Marcus replied.

"Well, before Fenix gets queer on us, here's the report. Several hours ago, an unidentified object was detected in space, heading for the planet. Ten minutes ago, it released several smaller objects which have also landed."

The others listened carefully. This was another strange mission.

"You four are to locate the majority of the object, and secure it until we can send more to secure the object for our own."

"Where're we heading then?"

"Just outside of section Fv-7. It's Locus controlled, so we don't have much f an idea of where it landed, with seeders generally everywhere. Get in there, and find what you can about this object."

"Wait; we're doing this alone?" Baird asked, incredulous.

"If it wasn't morning son, I would have told you that you were a dumb-ass. We have several other groups heading into the territory. This may be a lucky break for us- even after destroying most of their tunnels, Locus seem persistent as ever. So we can't risk anything, so we're making this a larger mission."

"So, get down, find the stuff, and kill Locus. Might as well tell us just to wash and repeat what we did last week." Marcus turned and walked into the chopper boarding entrance, as the others followed. Hoffman growled after them as the doors closed, and the Raven made its launch.

"So, what do you guys think?" Marcus turned to the others, calling an informal meeting.

"If it's a barbeque of Locus, mm-hmm! Let's get to the cooking!" Cole shouted excitedly.

"Sounds like the same mission again. Guess we're good for this kind of thing, right?" Dom faced Marcus, and Baird scoffed, evidently annoyed by something he said.

"Fine. Lets get back down there, and do the job."

The Black Raven slowly made its approach to the ruined city as several burning objects fell to the ground, or in several other cases, the water. The larger one then fell through the clouds, and crashed with a trembling of the earth far off in the city.

* * *

END chapter, just in case you didn't get that it wa-

(gets head shot off.)

Random Sniper : Boom Headshot!!


	3. Arrival

The city was relatively quiet- considering it was a war zone. The many remaining buildings of formal brilliance and glory stood, each a ghostly reminder of the former grace the human civilization once had. What was left of many were incomplete structures; some still whole with fractures simply blow off, others still standing with scratches of war, and others simply gone.

However, the peaceful surround was soon interrupted.

A group of drones walked out into an open courtyard; each with a Hammerburst in their hands. The grey, leather like skin of the humanoid monsters hid them well in the decay of the city around them, their small beady eyes scouting around, they growled as they searched for anything worth while to kill; anything human or related to humans. As they advanced to the center, one of them glanced up, hearing a softened boom.

It pointed up; its terrible, deep voice shouting guttural words, and the others ran aside, charging to broken building.

Just as the last one got into cover, an object smashed into the hard concrete ground, sending rubble everywhere. The smashed created a large blast of wind that had one 'barrier' of a cracked pillar fall back into its users- two locust grunts.

Finally, the shaking of the ground and flying of rubble stopped enough for the remaining two drones to carefully walk out, advancing into the fallen pod. Getting closer, it was a smooth cylinder.

The object had its windowed door shoot out, and the drones jumped back, one actually firing at the escape pod. Again, after calming down, the approached, circling around it to face the now open compartment.

As the faced it, they witnessed many weapons stashed into the cartage. Some resembling the lancer assault Rifle, just without the attached chainsaw. Others weren't recognizable; one with two tubes, another resembling a sniper, and some strange purple and blue ones.

The two remaining drones looked at each other, and looked away, sure of what it meant.

The large one growled. "Gears…"

Another soft boom was heard, and a burning object was seen coming down in the sky. The two watched it; now sure of what was coming. Yet as it closed distance to the ground, it didn't resemble one of the pods.

"Income!" the deep growl of the larger drone spoke, and the object hit a nearby water canal, skipping off of it like a tossed rock in a lake. Each impact caused a huge splash of water and sound, and it bounced past them. The two got back up, and chased down the canal, unsure of what to find now.

* * *

"Delta Squad, this is Alpha. Come in, over."

"This is Delta." Marcus spoke loudly to the intercom.

"Sergeant Mark Agron reporting from Alpha. We received a command from Colonel Hoffman for your squad."

"Put it through."

"Uh, ok. It says here that 'Locust movement has increased sense impact of descending objects. The objective still stands, and… oh, he orders Marcus Fenix to perform above and beyond or he will be sending him ass back to Jacinto Prison… You guys have Marcus Fenix with you?"

Marcus glanced back to Dom, who just gave him a sarcastic grin. Marcus growled slightly, and spoke back. "Yes, we do. Delta squad out."

"R-roger-"

Marcus closed the com system, glad to be away from the inexperienced voice that the man had. "Great. A fresh squadron leader for our backup; Wonderful." He spoke as he watched the opposite Black Raven fly next to theirs.

"Hey, it could be worse." Dom said, walking up to him.

"Yeah."

"Nemacyst!" Baird shouted as he raised his rifle and shot down two flying explosion balls that had launched themselves at the Raven.

The others grabbed onto anything they could as the helicopter lurched suddenly.

"Sorry boys, we are landing now; too many of those fucks in the air!"

The Raven they rode in changed its course, having the other go ahead, avoiding several other Nemacyst in the air and shooting down some more.

"Great. Let's go!" Fenix jumped from the landed chopper, watching the other still head on.

As the Raven took off, Delta Squad faced each other. "Looks like we got ourselves a bunch to catch up to."

* * *

"Aw, shit!" said the Sergeant as he glanced back.

"Let it go Mark; they'll be fine."

"Land this thing now- we aren't going too far ahead of them!" Mark Agron, head of Alpha squad shouted to the pilot of Black Raven. The two other inhabitants and privates of Alpha squad stood up, their weapons ready. "Land there!" he directed to a canal that had been smashed up by either a bomb or missile.

"Fine, just get out would ya."

Mark jumped quickly from the chopper, followed by Richard Levvy. He was a private First class who had been with him most of the time in his service while being a Gear. His wavy brown hair fluttered slightly as he jumped down. Ha carried a Lancer Assault Rifle like Mark did at the time.

Next came Carey Starfield, the Squads Sniper. He wasn't the most talkative; and only seemed to speak in battle or when about to fight. With short black hair, he was a close to a stoic personality anyone could get to. As soon as he landed, he raised his Longshot Sniper, scanning the area.

Last to jump was Howard Fortcheril. The veteran of Alpha Squad, and local big guy. Nearing seven feet tall with huge shoulders and muscles, he was the cliché demolitionist. Currently, he had his Lancer in his arms, and the Hammer of Dawn on his back; but he would always prefer a Boomshot and Torque Bow. The only thing about him that didn't fit the bill was his shortened brown beard, along with moustache and goatee.

Marks image was one similar to Bairds; he had short spiky hair, however black. His hair was also one of simple unorganized, not spiked. He carefully walked away from the chopper, waving for its take off.

The pilot waved back, and the blades sent more wind at them as it took off.

"Alright. We need a plan to-" Mark began, only to be interrupted as a Nemacyst smashed into the King Raven behind him, blowing apart its engine. The others turned and watched as their ride fell and blew up behind a collection of shattered buildings.

"Locust know we're here then," came the experienced voice of Howard. "What's the call sir?"

Mark had never gotten used to Howard calling him sir. The private was much older than him. Mark being twenty two, and Howard being in his middle thirties.

"We'll investigate for now. I at least want to give Delta time to catch up with us a bit before we move on."

"How about the smaller objects- command said they would have fallen nearby."

"Thanks Rick." Mark addressed his friend quickly, and turned away, his hand to his ear. "Command, this is Alpha Squad. Please come in."

Static hit all of their ears.

"Seeders," Carey spoke in his calm, almost hushed voice; he sounded like he was hunting. Even as he said it, he seemed to lower his volume, just to avoid attention.

"They must be around here. Looks like we got a job to do after all. Lets move." The group started marching up the Canal, following the path of what looked like a series of small craters.

* * *

"Chief? Chief?!"

The man in green opened his eyes. A blue sky was overhead, and as he tilted his head slightly to the right, crumbling buildings blocked the rest of the sky. Slowly getting up, he got a quick fix of the area. A very long canal stretched down an open area of the city. He assumed the small indentations around the path of the canal was his landing path. The structures were built of shining stone, similar to a dull marble.

He to his left, was a fallen in section of a building that blocked most of the view of the left section of the path which surrounded the canal. The pile spilled out into the canal, directing water to a faster flow.

"Chief, are you alright?" he stood up, and walked out of the water, easily stepping over the small wall dividing the water form the blocked path. "I guess you are."

"Where are we?"

"Give me a second." She paused. It gave him time to look through several buildings, looking for pods. "Strange- I can't get a reading of the area. I'm… being blocked by something. It feels like some sort of jamming device."

Master Chief couldn't find any of the pods he was looking for, so instead, he glanced to his right again, and saw the remains of a soldier. A small pistol was lying next to him. Quickly, he bent down, and grabbed the pistol. It wasn't hard to understand the way to use it, but it did seem to have its differences from the usual Magnum pistol he was used to. It was lighter though, and it worked.

"Where is the interference coming from."

"North… north east."

"Then we're heading north east." Master chief began to walk, now noticing that not only had the buildings been left in a state of disrepair and destruction, but how overgrown the city was; several patches of weeds and vines clumped over at the end of the canal. As he walked closer to the canal, sure that the other side would allow a path that lead North East, he could feel eyes on him.


	4. The Spartan

"What the fuck is it?"

Mark Agron whispered softly to the sniper next to him, who had out the Longshot directed to the tall figure in green armor.

"Unknown," hushed the darkened voice of Carey Starfield.

"In all my days, I've seen things, but I've never seen that!" added Howard, trying to hide himself completely away. However, being the largest in the group, this was a hard thing to accomplish.

"It looks human… but it's huge."

"Mark, I don't think anyone has seen anything like this," said the nervous voice of Richard. "That thing looks like some sort of super-advanced robot… thing."

"Right. Android?"

"Yeah. But that technology isn't available like that! Just look at the way it walks! It almost looks huma-"

He got carried away in excitement, brushing the edge of a piece of rubble. It didn't fall but several bits of cement fell, crumbling and giving away their position. The figure in green flashed around faster than any of them could expect and pulled off two quick shots before dashing behind a large pillar.

"Fuck!"

Richard blind-fired his Lancer off the barrier as he ducked back down. As he reloaded, Howard provided cover fire, allowing Mark to quickly dash to a closer broken pillar. The green thing in armor changed position equally quickly, distancing itself from the others.

"This thing is good… Hold fire!"

After a moment, Howard stopped fire. The green-thing didn't return fire, or reappear. In fact, after the bullets stopped, Mark couldn't spot it. Something that large couldn't possibly disappear…

"Where did it go?"

"I lost it." Carey spoke as he quickly jump over the barricade as the other two slowly stood up, their rifles still up and ready.

"What did it look like?"

"It certainly looked human, but was fast. I swear it was larger than you Howard."

"Jesus, and it moved that fast…"

Carey had moved aside from the general conversation, his eyes seemed to stick to a small area on a second floor of a ruined building.

"Carey?"

"We have company."

"The green guy?"

"Locust… lots of Locust."

"What?" As soon as Mark heard the words fly out, Carey fired a well aimed shot through a Drones head, which promptly exploded in a crimson shower of blood. Not a moment after, several other drones appeared from behind shattered pillars and walls on the second floor, each with weapons in their hands.

"Take cover!"

* * *

"Marcus, you hear that?"

Delta squad paused briefly, to listen to a nearby firefight. Hammerbust- lots of Hammerburst.

"Locust are nearby. Lets move!" Marcus leapt over a fallen statue and charged through a broken building, sure that the other squad had encountered resistance.

"Bring on the pain man!" was the last thing Cole could shout before running after the others, his gun out and ready.

* * *

"Chief, are you sure we should just leave them?"

"No."

He still walked away.

"They're human Chief!"

"I know."

"Where are you going then!?"

He turned around, seeing the firefight from underneath a fallen building. The creatures that had attacked the humans who he had opened fire on were beginning to overpower them. Chief tossed the pistol aside. "It's empty. There might be a pod nearby."

"You could have said- oh, just hurry up! They don't look like they can last very long!"

Master Chief climbed through the various broken and shattered pieces of framework and furniture in the building he hid under, and then came across something.

Two large figures appeared in his view, weapons in their hands. One of them was able to fire one-six round shot at him before he kicked the weapon from its hands, and then slapped the other creature's gun away; the one he had just kicked fell back and over a small wall.

The one still standing smashed its gun against him, only to have the personal shields bounce ot off and recoil on the attacker, making it loose balance. It found its grounding, and tossed its weapon aside, charging forward like a bull; its reptilian face hideously growling.

Master Chief easily stepped aside, and landed a backhand smack against the creature's skull, sending it unconscious. The other finally stood up, snarling; another weapon pointed at Master Chief.

It again fired more blasts of bullets at the Spartan, yet they weren't enough to stop him. They didn't even bring down the shields before he got close enough to rip the gun out of the things arms, and then smash the butt of the gun on its head like a club.

Its eyes crossed, and it fell back, either dead of unconscious.

"Good work chief!"

He tossed the strange gun aside, and to his left, he finally saw a pod he released. Even as he jumped through the piles of debris, he could see the MA5C Assault rifles he had tossed into it, along with two BR 55 Battle rifles. Finally closing the distance, he also picked up two frag grenades, along with a plasma pistol that he had found in the ships armory.

"Ok Chief, now go help those soldiers!"

"You got it."

* * *

The numbers of the enemy were overwhelming, and the fire fight going on wasn't good.

"Two on the right!"

Mark turned at Howard's call, shooting at two Locust grunts who had just popped out, ready to attack. They each received a hail of bullets before sinking to the ground.

"Nice one, sir."

"Rick, come with me!" Mark got ready, and then got up and ran for another area; a staircase. The heavy clomps of Richards combat boots checked his following. Reaching the stairs, they climbed up, coming closer to the higher stationed drones.

"Shotguns out." he whispered as they finally reached the last step. "Go!"

Mark leapt out, and landing feet from the closest drone, who had noticed his arrival, turned to face him. It never got the chance to attack, having its top half blow away by the shotguns blast.

Richard ran out and by another drone, smashing it to the ground with the shotgun, then blasting its head off.

At least five other drones had noticed their arrival, and turned to face the two. There where still seven more attacking those below, and it seemed that Carey had just fired his last sniper round, which had painted the walls red with the brains of another drone.

Mark had one closer drone in his sights, just as it had him in his sights. He ran at it, getting off two shots at it, as it fired into his armor. Just as he closed distance, close enough to blow it apart-

Wham. It smashed him with the back of the Hammerburst, having him fall back, and down. He lay on his back, staring up at the drone, as it raised its foot, about to deal death on the young sergeant. He closed his eyes just as it leered.

Death never came.

Peeking his eyes open, he saw that it had fell down, a large bullet hole it its head.

Getting on his feet, he turned, spotting the large green figure, with a rifle, or what he thought was a rifle, pointed at the Locust. Suddenly, the green man jumped, across a ten foot gap of one part of a second story to the one he had been part of.

As it landed, the platform actually shook, and the green man turned, unleashing a fierce rain of bullets into another Locust, which tossed and turned as bullets shook its body. Once the clip ran empty, the figure reached around, and pulled out another rifle; a thinner one, with an attached scope on top. He got off two shots on closer locust with burst fire, then tossed the sergeant over the barrier.

"Stay still for a second," came a simple command from behind the shiny visor. The man in the green armor turned, and ran off after the other Locust. With the type of rifle with a similar type of an attack to the Hammerburst, he quickly dispatched each drone still focused on the lower bunch, which had switched from firing at the locust to watching in awe as the green figure pulled it all off like it was nothing.

Finally, only one visible drone was left, and it smashed into the green man, pushing it back slightly behind the barrier. Mark took the opportunity to do something useful, just as Richard did. The private-first class smashed the back of the drone with the shotgun, stunning it for a moment.

The moment was all Mark needed, and he revved the chainsaw attached to the rifle up, and swung the gun around like a sword, slicing the head away. The head flew up and away, as the body slumped down, and fell off the ledge, falling into the canal below. The blood slowly changed the murky brown a dark crimson.

"Isn't that a little over doing it?" once again came the strong, simple voice from the tall green man behind them.

"Well, it works." The other two members of the squad had climbed the stairs and found themselves between the green figure and the two higher ranking members of the squad.

"Who is this guy?" said Howard as he walked over to the Sergeant.

The young man thought for a moment, and stepped forward. "I'm Sergeant Mark Agron, commanding officer of Delta Squadron. What, or who are you?"

"Who!? What?!" the voice wasn't from the green figure, but a woman's voice- one of disbelief and scorn. "They don't know who you are chief!"

"Who's that?" requested Richard, asking the green man.

"I am Cortana, The A.I. he is charged in looking after" replied that same voice, now simply annoyed.

"Ok, then who're you?"

The green figure didn't say anything for a moment. "I am Master Chief; Petty officer John-117; Spartan soldier."

"Spartan?"

"Yup."

The four looked around, viewing the amount of damage the 'spartan' had laid onto the drones. Whatever it meant, it was big.

"So, are you a robot… or human, or alien?"

* * *

Well, sorry for not going further, but I want to cut it a little short, or I'll start going into the next chapter.

How was the action? Good? Meh? Sucked the sweat of a dead mans balls? Review and say what you think!

… why haven't I died yet? Weird.

(starts to walk out of room, only to have an arrow shoot into his back, sparkling.) GAW- FUCK!! (Explodes.)


	5. Deja Vu

"The Gunfire stopped."

Cole jumped up onto a large chunk of a building. "So, they're either dead, or-"

"They got by." Dom walked past Cole, up to Marcus, who still had been leading them. "What do you think?"

"It doesn't matter right now. We need to find those Seeders, or there's no way we can get to the checkpoint object."

"Well, let's stop planning already and move." Baird walked past them, forcing them to move one. "You guys talk way to much."

"Speak for yourself."

"Yeah?"

* * *

The area was quiet again. The shouting and gunshots had subsided. On the shattered street, a large remains of a church stood- a solid reminder of the passion people once had. Now, it simply was being used as refuge for a small group of men. Each around their teen years; maybe eighteen or even seventeen; they stood, waiting for anything.

"I'm so bored," spoke a blond, who held a Lancer Rifle he had scavenged long ago.

"You're only not bored when you're killing or fighting." Came the voice of one sitting next to him, a worn sports cap concealing his face, who was staring at the ground.

"Yeah- so I'm bored."

"You bitch about everything, you know that?" came a freckled red headed member of the small gang on the former four sided room of the church.

"Shut up asshole." The blond turned, even more bored than before, to look at the street. His eyes stayed unfocused for a moment. Then…

"Hey, guys. Guys!"

"What?"

"Guys!"

"What!?"

"Look!"

The other three present got up, and silently crept over to the blond, looking down onto the street.

"Whoa."

"Cogs."

"Gears! Here!" re-enforced the blond, giving the group of four soldiers a golden title.

"Yeah, so what. A bunch of fuck'in fascist deserters walking down our street. Big deal." The one with a cap backed away slightly, slightly uninterested.

"Fuck man, theses guys look like the real thing! They got… I think I know the big guy!"

"Which one?" asked the red headed again.

"Big, black. Yeah! That's the 'Cole Train'!"

"What!?" the capped one got back up and came over, looking at the group. "No fucking way! It really is him!"

The fourth member, who was also smiling at seeing a celebrity, tilted his head up slightly, noticing something else. "That's not all we have giving us a visit." He pointed across the street, to the other opposite second story. "Drones are following them."

Several reptilian faces scrambled quietly through the open sided buildings, tracking the squad of soldiers.

The blond got up, brushing his long hair from his face. "Ok then, lets go."

"What?"

He turned around jumping onto a lower piece of a building, his gun at the ready. "I always wanted to fight along side the Gears of War."

Baird walked up to Marcus, his head turned slightly back to a church they just passed. "We got fans."

Marcus shifted his eyes to get a sample of the side of the street. In the second floor, four strandeds quietly followed them.

"Just ignore them. They bother us, then they picked on the wrong lot."

"Nah man! I bet they just want an autograph of the Cole Train baby!"

"Cole, do you ever get tired?" sarcastically asked Dom.

"Hells no!"

Just as he finished say this, Marcus spotted shifting ground ahead. Turning around to shout, he then noticed another patch of moving ground yards behind them. "Locust!"

"Take cover!"

As soon as Dom shouted that, the others had charged to the right sidde of the street, and taken brief refuge behind broken walls or fallen columns. The emergence holes finally collapsed, and Drones began to jump out.

"Ok, Baird, Cole- take those on the second floor. Dom and I will go for those in front."

"Don't screw up!" shouted Baird, as the Drones on the higher level had began to fire on their positions.

Marcus just saw Baird and Cole charge out for new positions, and he and Dom then took their cue. They bolted out, going horizontally for the left side of the street. Bullets whizzed by them, sounding like many irritating insects buzzing around their heads. Finally, they reached a part of shattered wall, and Dom took a few shots, easily putting down two Drones who were slowly advancing.

Cole and Baird had relocated behind a large pile of rubble that partially shielded them from the fire from above. Even as Cole pelted one locust unfortunate enough to linger too long outside of protection, he had to jump back away, just missing the incoming fire.

Baird would have gotten two more drones down, but he had overlooked the other emergence hole, which was almost pouring out drones. He had to hide quickly just to keep his head intact.

"Why does this shit always happen to us!?"

"C'mon Baird! This is a real good game!"

As they were talking, the stranded group above them had taken positions, and then stuck. All at once, they popped out from their respective hiding places and fired at the opposite locust on the other side of the street. They cleared the upper part of the building before Cole could even look back.

"Looks like some fans want action too!" Baird shouted again, now returning fire to the still advancing group of Drones.

The squeaking of boards was heard, and the group moved forward, to the other emergence hole.

"Gimme a grenade."

The red-head gave him a smoke grenade.

"A Frag grenade you retard!"

After a short swear, the man reached around, and withdrew the spiked grenade. After the blond took it, he simply dropped it into the hole below him. Not even looking at it, the blast of dirt and dust, along with several screams of pain, announced its early closure.

"Lets get down!" he got back up, and led the others to a set of stairs.

Baird and Cole had begin to fall back slightly, now trying to stem the flow of three emergence holes with torrents of enemies slowly advancing. Marcus and Dom, who had no longer needed to pay attention to the front, shifted to provide extra fire- giving them time to fall back more.

Marcus turned quickly, and noticed an intact building only a yard or two away. "Move!" They squad bent down and charged, running to the heavy metal doors of the large building.

Just as they arrived there and forced the doors open, "Wait!" someone yelled.

The stranded group had caught up with them, and were running as fast as they could to the doors. Just as the Blond and capped ones arrived, the two laggers were shot- one in the leg, and the other immediately in the head.

"Reg!"

The blond was forced into the building by the capped man, who also seemed to wrestle the temptation to go back for them. However, they both got in, and Marcus and Cole quickly shut the doors.

From the inside, they found the manual locks, and pushed them closed.

The six figures, now breathing, took a moment. Delta Squad didn't take long to gather themselves, and when Marcus had got his breath again, he turned to the blond guy. He raised his gun to the kids head.

"Just who the hell do you idiots think you are, and what the hell was that?"

"Hey, don't ask me; I just follow him!" exclaimed the capped one.

"And I was following you guys." The younger man, the long haired blond stood up, still eyeing the gun slightly.

"Why is that?"

"You guys are gears."

"And you're strandeds."

"We both fight Locust, don't we?"

Marcus turned away, and Dom took over. "We're not here just to kill more Drones- we got a mission to do."

"Yeah, so if you two don't mind pissing off now, we have a job to do." Baird glanced around the building, trying to leave the discussion and move as fast as possible.

"Wait, you're just going to leave us? We helped you guys!"

Cole stepped up to the plate of the conversation. "Look kid, it aint personal; we're just professionals. We kill shit for a living."

Marcus stepped back into the conversation, his hand falling away from his ear. "Communications still jammed."

"Great. Do we even know where to go then?" Dom turned from the other two to Marcus.

"Wait- you guys need to kill the seeders?"

The squad turned to the kid, still lying on the floor. "You know where it is?"

"Yeah! Locust keep three around here all the time to prevent having our smaller groups being evac'ed."

"So, you know where it is." Marcus stated.

"Yeah- it's just on the other side of this museum. My group- our group usually tried to screw them up, but we really didn't have the fire power."

Marcus turned back to the others. Cole looked indifferent, while Baird simply shook his head. Dom shrugged, with same mind that Marcus had. "Alright, show us."

"Grea-"

A muffled boom reverberated through the building, shaking the walls. Several large bits of dust fell from the walls as it happened. The whole incident was rapped up in a gut-wrenching roar from somewhere in the building.

Delta squad turned to each other, either with a face of annoyance of anxiety. "Great." Baird gave the general mood check.

"What the… was that?" spoke the blond, looking around to the door behind them.

"Berserker."

Several other booms were heard, each one getting louder and more prominent. The wall in front of them, facing the entrance shook slightly. After jumping to his feet, the blond raised his gun to the wall, almost trembling in his hands.

"Put that down. It wont help." Marcus motioned slowly with a wave of his hand to lower the gun, while keeping his voice as close to a whisper.

"What the hell is a Berserker?"

"Bulls of the Locust- huge, enraged, and almost indestructible. We need to pull a Hammer of Dawn on them." Marcus nodded to Baird, who tossed him the small machine. "Lets just hope the satellite can fire."

"Satellite?"

Baird almost jumped at the opportunity. "The Hammer of Dawn- it directs a laser pointer to a location, and then an orbiting satellite will fire a heavy laser blast at the target spot. The only thing that works on these things really."

The blond glanced at his gun, which was still elevated. "So… we just have to get by it? It can't be too hard."

"Yeah right; they're almost blind, but they have great hearing, and smell. So if it gets too close, or you allow it to hear you, you're basically dead." Dom turned to the man briefly, then rotated back as the walls shook again.

Marcus scanned the walls, and made his mind. "Alright, we're going to try this- we take this smoothly and slowly; no running, or talking. Use hand signals if you have to." He started for a crumbling doorway, and the others following.

Just as they passed the doorway, a loud static feed echoed from the Gears belts. Someone was trying to call them, on maximum volume. Just as Marcus turned back to a wall facing them, more 'booms' were heard; getting louder.

"Shhhit."

* * *

Master Chief watched the Sergeant try to contact the other squad, yet all they could find was static.

"Godamnit!" Mark swore as he stepped back with the others. "Why didn't we notice before about the seeders?"

"Seeders?" Cortana's inquisitive voice came from the man in green again.

"Big friggen bugs that emerge from the ground, screw up com links, and also produce Nemacyst. And I would guess," continued Richard,"bet that there's a few of them."

"Nemacyst?" Cortana again puzzled. "Just when we thought we knew all the weird names aliens have-"

"Suicide bombs that fly." Shot out Carey, who was now skimming the sky with his eyes expertly.

Master Chief didn't like this. It was annoying enough to not know where he was in the universe or how people got here, but now with a new group of alien crap to have named- it was just like in the beginning with the war against the covenant.

"Fine." Master Chief turned, his gun now in his hand, and started away. "Cortana, can you get a source of the interference?"

"It's very faint but I think… yes, north from here. Not to far, maybe we could-"

"Hold on a second here." The Sergeant spoke up, catching up with the Chief. "That Seeder is our responsibility; we will take care of it. You may have been able to take care of a Drone force, but going alone and around here, you wouldn't last a second!"

"He definitely doesn't know who you are, Chief," Cortana said sarcastically. The man in green armor paused only for a second, and then spoke finally.

"Fine, you can come along then." He just started to walk north.

"What a- oh whatever; we could use backup. Guys, looks like we got ourselves a new member to shoot with." Mark turned again to the others. "Now, let's go find Deltas position."

He turned away, and the others followed, unsure of what to expect from the green menace ahead of them.

* * *

Hey guys. SO FUCKING sorry im late. Like really damn late. I was busy, ok?

Anyway- another apology; this chapter doesn't have much MC. Yeah, it's a Halo story, but also GoW. So im sorry, but MC was hoggin all the fun one chapter ago. So… yeah. The next one will give some more violence, and blood, and MC killing spree shit. So, have fun this break!

(has a heart attack and falls out of chair, similar to Monty Pythons Holy Grail)


	6. Going North

The six members charged through a hallway, and as quietly as they could. Moldy and crumbling figures stood around them, reminding the six of a long lost time of humanities peaceful reign. Just as they found a place to stop and hide, a wall from which they had run from, exploded and the Berserker emerged through the dust cloud. As the dust and debris cleared, it wove its head around the air, searching for the humans.

The dust that had settled over them started to drift to the humans. Bairds face scrunched up as he tried not to sneeze, and as he prevented the actual noise, he still felt the force, and jerked suddenly. The sudden movement was enough to shove the platform the hid behind slightly, and the still standing figure wobbled, its plastic sword in its hand. As it fell back, the young blond stood up quickly and gave support for the statue. However, he stood on several pebbles, and the noise they made was enough to attract the huge lumbering beast to them.

The large metallic Berserker walked carefully to them, smelling the air with each step. It was getting closer, and the men watched as it got as close as to actually being ten feet from the kid, who had his eyes glued on the creature, each eye wide in fear. It was getting closer. Too close. So Marcus took a chance. He gently raised a pistol up, and aimed for a in a display case. As soon as he fired, the sound of the bell was heard, and the large Locust turned and charged at the wall. As soon as it did, the others ran off, not caring about sound; the kid just tossed up the figure and ran.

But the Berserker heard the noise, and as soon as it recovered, it turned and charged after them. They had the advantage though- they were already outside of the back exit by the time it had cleared half the room. And as they each darted to the side as the shot out of the door, they waited for it to emerge. Marcus and Cole both had out the H.O.D.'s and were in position. It was Simple tactical warfare against a Berserker- when one or two shots from a H.O.D. its outer skin is heated and loosened, allowing even conventional weaponry to harm it. And with the addition to two more guns, they had a trap set out.

The rumbling of the door sounded its arrival. And just like before, it shot out of the door, running out in the open daylight. And as it slowed down, realizing that its prey had disappeared, it twirled around, spinning for a trace of prey.

"Go." Marcus whispered as loud as he could, and he and Cole targeted the bulky creature. Several small beeps echoed, and the creature turned in their direction. Just as it did, several smaller beams of energy focused down on its position, and two focused energy beams smashed down it, causing it to panic; flailing its arms as if to throw off something that jumped on its back. The lasers lasted for a few moments, and then faded. The leaving beams heralded a barrage of bullets, as each of the other members of the group fired upon the shrieking creature.

"Its working!" shouted the blond, who had a shotgun drawn. Placing his eyes down the sights of the weapon, he emptied the remaining shells before expertly reloading and aiming once again. "Fall down and Die Bitch!"

Like a charm, as soon as it was said, the creature lost its balance and fell backwards, limp. The smell of cooling metal and a firefight only colored the area as the others slowly walked out and around it.

"Nothing beats the train baby." Cole tossed the Hammer of Dawn up, and caught it perfectly.

The young blond who had run up to the now dead Berserker stood above it, staring at the now crisping body. "That's a Berserker hu?"

"Yeah. They're a real problem." Dom checked the area they now stood in; a round courtyard. Around them where broken structures that partially stood, giving anyone who might want a sniper shot a good vantage point.

"They don't look that bad," The young blond leader said as the capped man stepped up, and prodded the dead creature with his gun.

"Yeah? And how many people you know who have a Hammer of Dawn kid? Beside us?" Baird aggressively rounded on the teenager, almost going face to face with him.

The kid back up slightly, almost tripping over the large arm of the dead Berserker; trying think of a response. "Well, not many I guess." Baird watched him for a moment, then actually smiled gently, and turned away. "It's Eric sir."

Baird turned sharply to the kid. "What?"

"My name; it's not kid. It's Eric." The kid, or Eric, pointed his thumb back to his capped friend. "And this is Frank."

Baird rolled his eyes, and walked over to Cole, who was glancing around the area, his nose slightly curled.

"Smells like Locust are having a cookout." Cole nodded in a direction, and the others of the Squad turned.

"Seeders must be over there." Dom took out a small device that mimed that of a compass. An electrical sphere told him that the direction they looked at was north. "Looks like most of the interference is coming from North."

"Then we're tracking that way." Marcus pulled out his rifle again, and started walking North, the others following. Before passing underneath a building, he glanced back, seeing the two youngest following the four veterans of war. "They had better not get in the way."

"We were rookies once too." Dom walked slightly past him, smiling slightly.

"Don't remind me." Marcus shook his head, and marched on, listening carefully for any signs of coming battle.

* * *

"Check again."

Richard Levvy, Private first class of Alpha squad checked the special gear he had just been fitted with. The interference still read north; only closer. "North; same direction Mark."

"Good." The Sergeant of Alpha squad again focused his attention of the 'Spartan' in front of him. He still had many questions for the amazing solider in green; where was he from? Where'd he get those weapons from? Who is he working for? Mark had never heard of a 'Spartan' before- whatever that meant.

His mind raced with questions even as he walked through broken streets. _He must be some sort of special military weapon just developed. Just unleashed, or maybe it's a test- a prototype of a super-solider?_ The sergeant thought.

Master Chief again briefly checked behind him after the soldiers he had 'befriended'. From the now 'deep in thought' Sergeant, to the cautious members behind him, watching the chiefs every move- the chief felt once again alienated.

At least before, he had been surrounded by those who saw his potential as a source for hope. These men seemed to think of him as a strange creature that might turn and attack any moment.

"Chief, we're close." Cortana's voice flooded his helmet briefly and he nodded.

"Which way?"

"To your right; be careful; I may not have contacts with commands of any kind, but I still detect enemy movement nearby. Several smaller creatures as well as the soldier-types."

He slowly turned to his right, aware that a sudden move might actually have those behind him jump in surprise.

"What?" The Sergeant caught up with him, seeming to take his chances with the green warrior.

Cortana answered again for the Chief. "The interference is coming from this direction, Sergeant. I'd advise that you prepare yourselves." As the A.I. spoke this, he drew out his Assault Rifle.

"Guys, lets get ready." As the leader of Alpha spoke, Master Chief suddenly darted for a crumbling collection of buildings, the shiny amour actually being well hidden in the shadows. The others smoothly followed, and landed against the sides of broken walls.

The area they entered was like a maze on multiple stories. A maze that had several concrete hedges smashed down. An elaborate area of ample places to hide sat before them instead.

Almost as soon as they got more than two blocks inside the buildings, they could easily smell the Seeder; musky, rotten, and like a skunks spray, it stuck to you. The suit removed most of the smell as he breathed in the air, be he could taste it- and it was strong. And as he peeked over a corner of his fallen pillar, he spotted something that he was sure fitted in a science fiction movie.

A large insect like creature was sticking itself in the air from under the ground, displaying some sort of abdomen. As it contracted it body slightly, a small sphere of a thing popped out, and began to drift in the air, almost weightless. Around the creature the Chief assumed was a seeder, a large group of the reptilian soldiers stood or patrolled the area casually. Somewhere in the upper levels, he spotted something hopping around- something small and fast.

"Damn- more than I thought," The Sergeant spat almost under his breath.

"Hey, we have the element of surprise on our hand." Came the re-assured voice of the group veteran, Howard Fortcheril. His long scar across his face form the top of his forehead, stretching sideways to the bottom of his chin seemed to be lighter in the darker light.

"Finding a suitable place," announced the simple words of Carey Starfeild. He gently pointed to the area he crept off to, silent and almost unnoticeable. Richard watched him go, his eyes carrying a burden of concern.

"I will never know if he's just stupid, or brave." He said, shaking his head slightly as he spoke to Mark.

"Probably both." They both turned to the Chief as he said this; the sudden voice caught them both off guard. "I'm going. Provide support."

"We will need to do something about the Seeder; and we don't have any H.O.D.s with us." The Sergeant said quickly, trying to hold the huge man before he ran out.

The Spartan turned slowly, and faced the others. "Trust me."

The three exchanged glances, and Mark gave a curt nod. "We'll give you support- just watch out for the Wretches."

The Chief paused only for a second, wondering briefly what wretches were. But, all the same grabbed on to the side of the fallen structure, and pushed himself out, his gun forward. As he leapt out, the others revealed their hiding places, quickly taking a target in their sights.

The Drones turned in surprise, as the huge armored man flew through the air, landing a strong kick to one drones head. The kick had the reptilian creature sprawling through the air, and the other drones turned for shelter as the Assault rifle took aim. When the Chief landed, guns began to shoot.

As the Assault rifle fire uleashed its rain of metal, the Squad also joined in the battle. The Sounds of two Lancer rifles joined, along with the sporadic hail of a Hammer burst from the Private First Class Richard. To the Spartan's side, a drone popped out from a hiding place, and before a single shot could be fired, its head exploded, and the chief fallowed a small and faint path of a sniper shot, originating from a very well concealed Carey, who had hid in a clump of plants.

"Hey 117; look up!" the Sergeant shouted, calling the Chief by what he thought was his name. As Master chief glanced up, he saw at least five of those small 'Nemascyt' now actually flying to him at a fast pace- a sticky trail of fluid following them. Getting two of the things down with the rest of his clip, he turned to run back at the supply of unconventional defenses.

As he ran, the others took out the remaining three, allowing the Chief to easily retreat, and reload. And as he jumped over a barricade, he was met mid-air with something that looked like a mutant Covenant Grunt; just a lot meaner looking and surprising stronger as it smashed him back slightly into the wall.

Getting a better look at it, it did very well resemble a Grunt. But instead of a wimpy voice and a small set of armor, the creature in front of him looked like a demonic version of one. The voice was gone and instead, a snarling rasp of noise, and it constantly leapt around, hopping slightly with each jump. It was like seeing the evil inside a grunt in a physical form.

But like grunts, it was small. So, in a quick swing of his gun, he easily smashed the thing aside and into a concrete barricade. It slumped down to the floor, dead. As the chief reloaded, he heard Cortana's voice. "Uh, chief. Down the hallway."

Looking up, he noticed a swarm of those things coming at him. With a quick and rather surprised reaction, he reached for a Frag grenade, and tossed it at the twenty or so things coming at him. The blast not only tore apart most of the front coming beasts, but had the surrounding the walls fall apart, burying the coming creatures in feet of debris.

"Why can't we do shit like that!" Richard shouted as he quickly pulled off three shots of his Hammerburst into a Drones head. He the quickly fell back behind the structure as bullets ravaged his cover, looking for the man to kill.

"Because we aren't seven feet tall and we happen to be human! I seriously think he's a robot or super machine come to help us out… or something." The Sergeant quickly tossed a grenade over the cover, guessing the aim to avoid getting shot in the face. As he did, Howard tossed a second grenade from his cover, and two explosions ripped out from the area, complete with a series of gurgles of pain.

Master Chief took the opportunity to run up to the large insect- creature. Seeing it about to release another one of the Nemacyst, he pulled out on of his Plasma grenades, and ran for the strange opening of the beast. As it contracted and opened its wet flaps to release one, he tossed the grenade perfectly in it. The beast jerked at the strange entrance, and paused, trying to decide what had fallen into it.

A moment later, a blue streak of fire shot out, and the fleshy exit blew up, showering the area with gooey remains. The beast groaned, and fell to the ground, dead.

"Good work Chief. The remaining enemies have begun to flee- we won't need to worry about any more contacts for a while." Cortana's voice again gave him the report. Behind him, the Gears crept out, and observed the destruction they caused.

"What was that exactly?" The Sergeant rounded of the chief, pointing to the Seeder's burnt remains.

"Plasma Grenade. They stick to the targets until detonation." The Chief briefly said.

"Almost as good as an H.O.D." said Richard, eyeing the dead beast.

"H.O.D?" Cortana repeated through Master Chief's com-system.

The Veteran Spoke up. "Hammer of Dawns. Laser guiders for satellite laser weapons; Useful against larger Locust."

"Yeah, They look great too. Sort of-" the Sergeant was cut short as a 'boom' echoed through the buildings, and the group spotted two large light beams being directed on some target. The screams of a Seeder were heard soon after. "Look like that!"

"Delta Squad! They're alive." Richard spoke up again, taking a step forward to get a better view of the beams. "Sounds like they found a Seeder themselves."

* * *

"Two to the Right!" shouted Marcus as he directed the beam with Cole. Dom and the kid known as Frank shot down the two drones who had tried to sneak up on the six. To Marcus's left, Baird and the Blond Eric distracted the Locus with as much gunfire as possible.

"Yeah! One more aughta bring this sucker down!" Cole said as he leant back down, giving time for the laser to charge up. Marcus followed action, avoiding the gunfire directed to them.

"You ready?" Marcus shouted over the gunfire.

"Born ready man!" The both poked up, and fired the laser pointer. A few moments later, the lasers were brought down, and the seeder screamed in pain as it was burnt to cinders. The remaining locust retreated, running for cover as their reason for being present was now dead.

"If this is what it is to be a Gear," said Eric," Sign me up."

"You'll have to survive this crap to sign up," Said Baird to him as he slowly got back up. The younger blond jumped over the block he had been hiding behind, scouting the area.

"Yeah, cus then 'ill be a veteran," he turned back to Baird.

"No, because I don't have a pen and paper with me to write you a rank." Baird walked up to the dead Seeder, and Cole followed, nodding in self approval.

"You have got to love this shit, right kid?" he gave the rookie soldier a rough pat on the back with nearly toppled him over.

"Yeah."

Marcus lifted his hand to his ear, and decided to test his luck. "Alpha Squad, this is Delta- do you read us?"

A rough static was still present, but a response did come. "This is Alpha. … to hear you …uys again."

"Yeah. We're located by Jameson Sporting Arena. What is your current location?" They had been battling by what used to be a former Thrashball stadium. It stood aside to them, still complete in its glory, but scarred with fire and burnt walls.

"That ma… ou… not to far from our …rent location. Maybe tw.. lometers from our posi..."

"Damn static."

"Looks like we got another Seeder to take care of." Dom said, as he glanced at his device. "The interference is north west from us."

Marcus nodded, and again lifted his hand up to activate the com-system. "Alpha, we are heading north-west to stop Seeder interference. Advised that you head in the same area; north East."

"Ro…ger"

Marcus lowered his hand. Finally, they would be a stronger force, and maybe find that damn wreckage once this mess was finished.

"So," Baird said, his usual angered voice flaring up," we have to hop to another Seeder and meet up with some Amateurs? Just what I wanted."

"What's so bad about being a rookie?" asked young blond.

"Shut up. Let's get this over with and back to the main mission." Marcus started heading north west now, in hopes of finding more support and then more fire power to get them out of the area.

"Sounds like we're on a date with Alpha then." Dom said as he followed Marcus.

* * *

Next chapter coming next year! HAHAH… oh wait- that's in 4 hours… GODAMNIT! (Boomer shoots him, he explodes, and then the boomer does to.) ??


	7. Pitstop

A rough wind ripped by what was left of a long road. On either of its sides, rows of shops, worn and broken, stood partly intact and gloomy, like a depressing wall of humanities accomplishments. Little was heard, aside from the occasional breaking of glass or crumbling of rubble, drifting around in the wind's force.

A larger building's wall budged. A large door, seemingly moldy, creaked, then fell. Behind it, Spartan 117, along with Alpha Squad stood, glancing around awkwardly. The Spartans right hand was raised, as if he were to open the now non-existent door.

"Oops." The entire wall then collapsed.

Master Chief simply walked over the crumbled wall and the remains of the door. The street, or the ruins of a large street, echoed with each metallic step he took. The area seemed clear, even with his presence the street seemed just a bit less dangerous.

As the Chief stepped out and onto the street, he glanced around, scouring the area for any signs of enemies. This advance gave the others a chance to recover the fact that a wall had just fallen with a bang and no ambush came.

"I didn't think he was this clumsy." Spoke the private first class. Richard Levvy spoke loud enough for his comment to be heard by the one in mention, who turned, facing the younger soldier. If the Gear could see the monster's eyes, it would have most likely petrified him.

Master Chief turned away though, and continued away from the small spread of rubble laying on the street. The Sergeant of the squad walked up to his friend, eyeing the green beast with caution.

"Must be something similar to Berserkers. Normally, they're cumbersome and troublesome. But in battle, they're hell to the enemy."

"Talking behind our backs would be good," spoke Cortana, making them all jump," if I weren't able to hack into close range com systems."

The gears looked taken aback, all except for Private Starfield, who passed the slowing gears and continued after the Spartan.

"Spartan. What gives you this name?" Carey Starfield asked, a calm and dark voice directing the speech. The chief didn't turn as he addressed the question.

"Spartans were ancient soldiers know as the top of elite, capable of almost any feat in battle." The chief paused suddenly, spotting a piece of grey metal shining from a pile of rubble.

"Spartans? I never heard of them before actually." Spoke the Sergeant as he hurried up to the others.

"You people never discussed ancient earth history, around ancient Greek times? That's supposed to be simple education." Cortana's educated voice again shot from the speakers, prodding at the gears.

The reaction, if Cortana had a physical one, would have been a strange mix of annoyance, shock, and curiosity.

The gears looked puzzled by the term 'Ancient Greek' and 'Earth History'. Instead of a well thought out response, they all glanced at each other, and shrugged. But still, Cortana's matrix struggled to pull it together. Where were they? She and Master Chief; they weren't on Earth, that was for sure. But Humans were here. In a war she had never heard of, and with an enemy never encountered before by the Fleets, or Armed forces. So, where had the winded up? An uncharted colony inhabited by rag-tag humans?

That couldn't make any sense either. Most people knew about these facts, such as 'Spartan'. And to add to her confusion, almost every human knew of Master Chief and the Spartans fight against the Covenant. But, these soldiers didn't have a clue. Even as chief's sensors checked the men behind him, it gave Cortana another chance to analyze them. They were armed in bulky, but hard amour. Each soldier seemed to have a specific type of armor specification. But it was rougher, less… what to call it… polished. They seemed less suitable for any soldier than the ones marines had to carry.

The chief hadn't the time yet to consider such things. One thing was on his mind, and the piece of debris was all he needed to set a new course. He turned to the left.

"Hey, Spartan, we're supposed to head north."

"So, head north. I need to take a pit stop." The chief didn't even stop to respond.

The Sergeant considered a retort, but at the words 'pit stop', let it slide, and instead followed with curiosity.

"Sir, we can't stop for long." The hulking figure of Howard Fortcheril loomed behind the leader of Alpha Squad. "We can't have Delta waiting on us, or we risk their lives or ammo."

"Yeah, we can't loose any unnecessary ammo, can we?" he spoke sarcastically to the Private, who shook his head roughly at the response.

The Spartan still walked to the left, and found ruins to a small alleyway, leading to a large town square. Though the alleyway was dark, it was obvious something was smoking at the other end in the center of the town square.

"Looks intact."

"What? What's intact?" the private first class focused his eyes on the center of the square as the large man hurried to it. It was one of the escape pods he filled with weapons. The chief stepped to the side of the main escape door, and slammed it open. The door shot out, barely missing the squadron.

"Whoa, watch it, ok-" the Sergeants voice seemed to desert him as he saw what was inside the escape pod. A large cache of guns, pistols, grenades, and other objects assumed to be weapons inhabited the small area. Among them, several rifles that were the same as the one the chief currently had, several strange devices, some strange double tube, and other various weapons.

"My god. How do you fit this stuff in here? And… what's this?" Howard held up a small plasma pistol, unsure of where to grip it. The chief snatched it away from him.

"Careful with these. Plasma Pistol." He tossed the plasma pistol back into the escape pod. He wouldn't need one with him; there was no way a vehicle could be a threat in this labyrinth of a wasteland.

"Plasma- Pistol?"

"What the hell are these?" the sergeant was examining, of all the dangerous choices, the rocket launcher.

"Back away from the weapons if you don't know what they are."

The Sergeant looked harshly over to the Spartan, who seemed to be staring at him, however this was hard to decide if he was or not; his face was hidden by the yellow/gold face cover.

"Plasma Pistol?"

Both turned to Richard, who held the pistol lightly in his hands, letting it dangle slightly.

"Yeah. So?"

"What the heck do you mean plasma? Or can it actually… fire plasma rounds?"

"Yeah, it can."

"I knew it!" the others turned to the Sergeant. "You are an alien! You have to be!"

"Uh, sir-"

"No no-" Mark cut him off quickly, leaving the private first class to look annoyed " listen! We find him by a crash site, which was part of a falling object from space. From space! There aren't any human colonies out in space!" with his hands he began to list facts about the chief.

"First off, he doesn't know about the Locust, or the War- he doesn't know the **planet** he's on- we find a special artificial intelligence ages away from our own technology- and to top it off, he has these crazy weapons that we have never seen before!"

"The rifles look like the Lancer," spoke Carey, darkly examining a battle rifle from the pod, which was immediately snatched back by the chief.

"You're smarter than you look, Sergeant." Spoke Cortana. "With what you told me, I would have assumed he is something like that."

"Does it matter?" spoke the chief, again in that powerful tone he seemed to always have. "I'm fighting the same creatures you do. I say I'm human. From earth, what more-"

"Earth! What is with this constant 'earth' thing your on about!? This isn't earth!" suddenly burst the Sergeant.

Master chief wanted to end this discussion, as it was getting them nowhere but behind schedule. So he tossed the Sergeant the Rocket Launcher, and picked up several more grenades; two plasma, two frag, and then grabbed an over-shield.

"Time to go."

"Hey!" the squad followed after him, with the Sergeant still prying at his theories for him being an Alien.

* * *

"So these are the Stonewell Canals?" The inexperienced man glanced around at the partially flooded ground, and the three bridged area far ahead of them.

"No, they're just up ahead. These are part of them, but the area you probably know about are ahead of us, by the three bridges." Dom spoke to the younger man, walking backwards as he did.

"Dom." Dom almost ran into Marcus as he turned. The Sergeant of Delta was looking at a blockage of the main gate. It was piled with rubble, and was almost any way of seeing through.

Before, they had seen the area from a taller platform, but now that they had found the normal entrance, they found themselves stuck.

"There's away around, but we might be late."

"Sounds right." Cole shook his head enthusiastically as he said this.

The six turned to a smaller alleyway that led to a side entrance to the canals. Just before they reached it however…

"Alpha… you guys there? Over."

Marcus held his hand up and over his ear. "Copy Delta. We hear you."

"Sorry for the interruption, but we got you signals close by, so we wanted to see if close range coms were working yet."

"Well, good job." Baird gave a sarcastic thumbs up. "They're working."

"Sorry if you've been waiting for us guys, be had a slight… detour."

"Copy, we've had our own little delay. One of the gates had been piled over."

"Yeah, we got that too. We'll be there shortly, roger?"

"Copy that. We'll have two extras tailgating though- so don't shoot them on sight." Marcus said, spotting the strandeds who had accompanied them trying to eavesdrop on the conversation by nudging closer to Dom or Baird.

"Yeah, we know how you feel. Alpha out."

Marcus paused only half a second. "sounds like they got some company too."

"Oh great, a big fricken party for humanity in Stonewell Canals, right? Does this sound familiar to anyone else?" baird almost shouted, getting angry at nothing again.

"Shut up Baird, let's go."

* * *

I'm not dead.

Hehehe, sorry for making you guys wait, but I needed a break from writing. This recent chapter though, doesn't mean I'll update every other day. Maybe twice a week; at max.

Sorry again for the wait! REVIEW please :3

(A random Spartan bursts into room and Spartan laser's me. +10 points)


	8. Stonewell Canals

Hello Readers! this is the first PRE-story author note I have for this story, cus there's something important I need to point out.

All of this chapter takes place on the Canals Map in Gears of War, but because this is a 'Halo/GoW' story, some might not exactly know where the hell they are, or what it looks like. Here is my advice to solve this problem.

One, rent the damn game. IT is worth your TIME!

Two, do some research. Youtube, Google, just about any decent search engine will tell you what this place looks like from a birds eye view.

Three, if you are too lazy to do either of these, then HOW DO YOU HAVE THE CAPACITY TO SIT THROUGH ON OF MY STORIES!? I may be good writer, but explaining the damn place to exact detail is left to the actual game! So, I again recommend you at least go and see what It looks like. Please?

Ok, now, back to the story-(headshot-ed… again)

P.S. I know there is no Troika on Canals, but… it seemed like a good idea. Meh.

* * *

The Center Bridge of Stonewell Canals was currently the center of weapons in the general area. At least forty drones, wretches, and possibly boomers prowled the center area of the canal. The center bridge had a troika chain gun mounted in the middle, with one already mounted, checking the status of the death gun. Several other grunts watched or scouted around, scouring for danger. 

Other drones walked in the ankle-deep water below the bridge, lancer of shotgun in their hands. Several sat by the sandbag mounds at the lower end of the center bridge, and shadows of others could be seen creeping in the intact building on the opposite side of the bridge.

The other two bridges, one to the west and east, had only one or two visible drones stationed at. Most of the forces were concentrated at the center, where several grenadier drones with their leather like helmets sat, with a shotgun at the ready.

All this could be seen by Carey Starfield, advanced Sniper and Private of Alpha Squad who was on a higher ledge away from the wells.

"Confirmed sightings, twenty six."

"Damn, that's-" started the Sergeant.

"Estimated, thirty eight."

"Well, that sounds peachy, doesn't it?" came the voice of Baird from the opposite side of the com.

The two squads, or groups (seeing that they no longer consisted of only four people) sat and observed the large amounts of enemies which dominated the wells.

Marcus watched through a sniper at his end, even though his skill at the gun was nothing to that of Carey Starfield, infamous sniper at his academy. He was still able to count the large amounts of enemies located.

"That guy on Alpha has a good eye. I count about twenty five visible, in the open."

Baird tossed his hands angrily in the air, almost hitting the two stranded next to him.

"So, what do they have exactly?" Dom sat next to Marcus, who was kneeling against a section of fallen building, making an effective cover for the sniper.

"A good amount of normal drones, some grenadiers, and a few snipers."

"A counted fifteen drones, seven grenadiers, and four snipers."

Delta squad slowly exchanged looks. This guy was sharp.

"And estimated anything from one to three boomers, and ten to fifteen wretches."

"Thanks Carey."

Back on the other side, the Chief was watching with his visor. Although it had nowhere near the amount of zoom the scope on the Longshot sniper rifle did, it could double his distance of eyesight. And from his instincts, he could tell that that sounded right by numbers.

"So, it's nine versus-"

"Eleven. We have two strandeds over here." Sounded Dom, interrupting the Private First Class.

"Ok, Eleven… they at least outnumber us three to one! And that's just with what we see- what about the building area?"

"It wont matter." Master Chief spoke suddenly, startling Alpha and surprising the others on the opposite side.

"Who is that? Hey, you! Guy who just spoke," Baird said angrily," you wanna tell us who you are?!"

"His name," said Cortana irritably," is Master Chief. Spartan 117."

An audible pause came from the opposite side of the com system. "You guys said there was one person with you, right?" Dom was counting his fingers, listening for an answer.

"That's Cortana; Ship's A.I." Master chief said again, briefly. "Again, the numbers won't be a problem."

"Wh- ship's A.I.?" Baird's confusion was lost to the others.

"What do you mean?" The Sergeant was still next to Carey, who peered into the scope, eyeing the Locust again as they still moved about, doing whatever they needed. "Eleven versus a lot more, and a troika just doesn't add up to out advantage."

The chief didn't respond. It was true what he said; they enemy outnumbered them, and although he couldn't make out its entire form, the familiar form of a mounted chain gun was a force to recon with.

"Oh, I get it." Chief turned to the Sergeant, who had understanding in his eyes. "You have other Alien buddies who can teleport down and wipe them out."

The chief stared, along with the rest of the squad.

"… It's just a guess." The Sergeant again focused his sights on the enemies, avoiding the embarrassing stares of his squad mates.

They finally looked back to the mass of enemies located at the canals. The Chiefs mind was still on the young Sergeant Mark Agron. The last soldier entitled 'Sergeant' he had the honor to fight alongside with was Johnson, and he was as close to a hero as the chief had ever seen.

The Experienced, well trained, and firm Veteran who had died only half a day ago to the chief was leagues away from the newest person to be labeled Sergeant. What got him to lead a squad like this?

"So, we're taking them down then?" the second Sergeant here, Marcus Fenix sounded through the com system.

"To get to an injured Seeder, oh yeah." Agron pulled out a small pair of binoculars, and started looking at the grouped locust. "From what we can tell, there is one last weakened Seeder located here. Once that's down, we can start using long-range coms. Then, we can update with HQ, and get any updates ourselves on our orders."

"All you had to say was yes."

"Gotcha."

Within minutes, the plan was established. They would creep in from both sides simultaneously. However, Delta would make the first move, taking down what few Locust located over by their closest bridge. As they did, they would draw the fire from the Troika, and expose the back of the gunner to Alpha.

Once they had done that, Alpha would move in and do as much as they could to get rid of the Troika and the gunner. Once that was done, the defense for locust would weaken significantly.

After that, it was improv warfare. Two from each squad would charge down the water paths to the center bridge, while two more would head to the center sandbag 'bunker'. While that was happening, MC would head for the building section of the center bridge, going across the closest bridge to him and heading down a covered area to the wounded Seeder. From there, he would be able to kill off the insect like beast and possibly get the stragglers of the battle.

It sounded like a good plan, but talk was cheap, and there was the Locust to consider. If there was any way to screw up the Gears plan, the reptilian faced humanoids would find a way to do it.

And began the second battle of Stonewell Canal.

* * *

MC and Alpha Squad hurried, both as quickly and as quietly across the watery street as they could. Directly opposite of them, on the far side of the Canals, Delta mirrored them, heading down the wide, but concealed waterway to the bridge side-entrance. Both teams slammed against the wall as they made it, not moving yet. 

The chief avoided the wall, which made no sounds, yet even as he crouched, it still made him a good four or three feet off the ground.

"Get against the wall." Sergeant Agron was glancing around the wall end, just around a busted up pillar. His squad and the chief had climbed the small set of stairs to the beginning area of the first bridge, which was one of the thinner of the three.

"Why?"

"They might spot you!" he hissed at him, gently shoving him closer to the wall.

"And they might hear you."

"Quiet, both of you!" Cortana spat. If she was a physical being, she would have had their ears covered in blue liquid. "There's six here! And I don't look forward to end up dead quiet yet! So-"

Chief hit his helmet, silencing her briefly. She was getting cranky.

Across the Canals, Delta prepared.

"Just draw their fire, right?"

"The Troika, and anything else we can."

Baird and Cole glanced at each other behind Marcus and Dom as they spoke to one another. The two speakers in front then glanced back to the other Delta Veterans. They felt like it would be the same as it always was; that they would be the ones doing the mope up.

"Whatever man," Cole breathed with excitement," lets just turn the heat in this oven up!"

"There is a Troika up there! Heat is the last thing I-" Baird was cut short of his disgruntled whisper. The Locust sounded excited. And they were moving away. "Oh crap."

On the opposite side of the Canal, the chief knew. When he was slammed against the wall, the protective armor would make enough noise as it was, but the personal shield actually kicked in on a sharp piece of protruding metal and pushed him on the floor as it repelled it.

It was enough to catch the attention of the closer Grunts, and then they told their friends across the Canal.

"Gears…" they hissed, and motioned for some to creep in by the waterway, behind the Gears soldiers. At the same time, two would be positioned by the area the five were supposed to have ambushed them.

"Ok guys, we need a plan-"

"I hate waiting."

Spartan 117 had never been known for his stealth. Even when he had been seen doing it, it was usually the last time anyone saw him do it. But, he was brute force, and now was the time for it.

He ran for the small entrance for the bridge, pulling out a spike grenade he had brought along with him, and as he slid past two surprised Locust Grunts, he skidded past the entrance of the bridge, and got a view of the area.

He was on a raised area, a sidewalk to the canal. Several grunts were also vacating the premises with him, and had just jumped back at the surprise entrance of a very tall, very green armored man.

Behind the Chief, he heard the sharp sounding explosion, along with two inhuman yells of agony, and he took his turn to take cover. He rushed back just as the Grunts aimed, along with the Troika. He made it just as the rest of the squad had taken cover on the bridge cover railing and readied their positions.

The Troika began to shoot, and Master Chief felt the ground almost shake with the rain of bullets.

"So, change of plan then." Marcus loaded his gun, and prepared for War like he always did.

"Lets bring on the Death man!" Cole was practically bouncing off the ground before the all charged out from behind their section of hiding, and took positions by the covered bridge.

Marcus, who had two shots with the Sniper, aimed for the Troika as best he could.

Boom. He Missed.

"Ah- Damn it!"

He reloaded, and as he did, those few Locust who had been still-shooting turned and darted for Cover. Several other reptilian faced humanoids had been standing also ran for cover, now aware of the enemies sniper. On one side at least.

He re-aimed…

On the other side, the Chief had decided that he had greatly underestimated his new enemy. These were more cunning then the last; using strategy and firepower against their opponents, rather than just numbers. But they did have the digits to fight with.

He heard several drones coming around the side entrance they came from, and tossed a frag grenade.

"You!" The Spartan grabbed Fortcheril and directed his vision to the now exploding grenade. "Watch that way!" he pushed him back, and Master chief sprinted down the bridge, the troika gunfire following his path.

"Chief! Get your big green ass the fuck back-" Sergeant Agron tried to sit back up, shouting at the still running Spartan, but Richard held him back, and the troika fire convinced him to stay put.

"Let it go! He can take care of himself, but we got some trouble here!"

The Chief had heard the Sergeant calling him back, but had ignored at.

"Hey, he didn't call you Alien."

"Not now Cortana."

Master Chief had made it to the Building section of the Canals, of the second floor of the area. It connected all three bridges together, and had the most amount of hiding spaces. For wretches.

"Fun." The chief lightly tossed his last frag grenade he had to the now screeching being forty feet ahead of him. just as the Grenade blew up, at least eight more had appeared next to the first appeared beast.

They all shredded with the shrapnel.

"BOOM." A deep, resonating voice caught the chief off guard. It came from behind the dust cloud that had settled over the former wretches, were a very large and tall figure, hulking and muscular, lurked.

The chief instantly reacted. He reached down, retrieved the device, smashed it to the ground, and watched as the bubble shield burst out. A cluster of Boomshot rocket grenades propelled through the dust cloud and smashed against the special energy shield.

The shield stayed intact, but the chief could tell that if that had hit him, his own personal shields wouldn't have quiet protected him.

"Graagh." The almost eight feet tall lumbering… thing reloaded, giving the chief to pull out his own kit.

The beast looked like an overgrown locust drone; same facial feature and shape, but simple power and speed were massively different.

By the time the beast had reloaded, the chief was ready. A large ball was in his hands, and he was ready to toss it. The thing fired its grenade, and he threw it as it exploded against the wall, finally breaking the shield.

Blinding light and heat were felt by the Boomer as something blinded it. Being mostly a sub-terrain dweller, the chief had unknowingly hit a blind spot on the thing. It, like most Locust hated bright light.

Finally it all ended with a little explosion. The boomer, recovering its sight, looked to its feet to see a small broken robot sphere, with dying yellow lights, fallen apart. It had been a flare, nothing special.

A small click and whirr re-directed the beasts attention. It grabbed the back of its head, searching for what touched him, and finding a small sphere.

The chief had been able to move around the beast, past the central bridge and behind the boomer while the flare distracted it. After it had recovered, he had stuck it with a plasma grenade in the back of its head.

It just spotted him and turned to fire another shot just as the blue smoking bomb flared up and exploded, cooking the head off instantly in a blue burst of an explosion.

Stepping over the corpse, the chief noted that a good amount of Locust had already been killed off by the Gears and the strandeds, who had gone under the tunnel and up the waterway, guns blaring.

Gurgle. Grougle. Shift.

These sounds grabbed the chiefs attention. He looked to the 'indoor' balcony where it allowed a view into the caved in first floor. But where the floor should have been, a wounded seeder lay, its wound in the open.

"So easy, its almost sad."

He pulled out his last grenade, a Brute Spike Grenade, held it out in the open, directly over the wound one floor up. Then he let go.

As he turned away, drawing his Assault Rifle out, he didn't even need to turn to see the death of the beast as it screeched in pain and the sharp burst of many spikes shot out. The seeder was dead with a shaky crash.

As he walked out in the open on the Center bridge, he calmly shot down two drones. What was left of the Locust had began to run off. A locust tunnel had opened, and they were fleeing into it.

"You better run!"

One of the Strandeds, a young blond was literally chasing them off with the chainsaw, not letting have the opportunity to stop and retaliate once more. The last Drone turned and got a clear view of the chief as he walked down the Bridge, the gun no his shoulder. It jumped in after the others, and the whole closed.

The Second Battle of The Stonewell Canals had be won by the Gears of Wars.

* * *

Ok guys, cus I'm damn tired, I'm going to end this chapter now and get some sleep to make some more chapters of this sooner than later. Sorry for current spelling/grammer/othercrapnow.

Seeya!


	9. United We Stand

The squads finally had pushed the Locust back.

They had captured and recovered the infamous Stonewell Canals back from their enemy.

"Well that was a waste of time. All that for nothing!" Baird was the one of the eleven now present that was still somehow miserable. "Not even a real challenge! And I only have one grenade left. Just great."

"C'mon Baird!" Cole shook his shoulder vigorously, which the spiky haired blond shook off angrily. "We had some fun!"

"And we got the Canals. Man," Dom turned to Marcus, who was looking at the collapsed whole, "I never thought we would be the ones to take back this place."

"We didn't do it alone."

Marcus walked up to the opposite squad. Mark Agron, Richard Levvy, Carey Starflied, and the large, almost Cole sized Howard Fortcheril all stood as a united squad opposite of the Delta. The two squads sized each other up.

"Alpha Squad."

"Delta." An awkward pause met these words. A small smile crept over Sergeant Agron's face. "Nice to meet you in person."

Marcus had a smile of himself on. "Yeah, it's nice to have some allies on the battlefield for once."

"Hey!" The two strandeds, who each had their Gnasher shotgun out, walked up to the two groups. "We helped! We've been helping you for a few hours anyway! Score one for Strandeds, right?" he held out a hopeful high five. "Right?"

Alpha Sergeant slowly stepped up. "So, you're the new bunch we heard about, right?"

The two teens exchanged glances. "Yeah? Wait a sec-" Eric, the blond 'leader' of the stranded duo got a glance at the three golden arrows on the badge on his shoulder," you're a Sergeant? Aren't you a little young-"

"And this is coming from a seventeen year old?" this interjection caught the younger man off guard. "You of all people should know that when you live in this world, age can only mean so much. Death came come a-knockin' to anyone who is the enemy."

Eric and Frank again exchanged glances, but with a more apologetic glimpse in their eyes. "Sorry sir. Eric-" Frank started.

"Stop talking for me." He slapped his friend in the gut, then looked back to the Sergeant in front of him. "Sorry man. Allies?" he again held out the hand. The Sergeant stared at it, then finally clasped it in a firm handshake.

"Pals sound better."

"Well, wasn't that just sweet." Baird walked up to the two, again angry over something. "Sorry to break up your gay little hug here, but we have something to do."

"Good." The deep voice had the entire squad of Delta and the two strandeds turn to the Center Bridge. Master Chief had finally come down, his Assault rifle in his arms.

"So, what… are…" with each step the Chief made to him, Baird seemed to struggle for words. The sheer height and size of the Spartan perplexed him. "…you?" If the others on the same squad hadn't felt so intimidated by the Spartan, they would have started cracking up at the sound of Bairds voice getting squeaky.

"I'm-"

"He's Master Chief, Spartan 117, for the last time!!" Cortana again shouted through the intercom, having half present at the Canals jump in shock at a woman's voice.

The Chief pointed to his head. "Cortana, she's an A.I."

"And you're that person who joined Alpha." Marcus walked up casually, as if approaching any other seven foot soldiers he knew.

"Yeah. Sergeant Fenix?" he held his own hand out, almost mirroring the other Sergeant's action as they were done earlier. "Master Chief Reporting for Duty."

Marcus paused before grasping the huge metal hand of the green metal clad soldier. _Is he part of our army?_ He thought. _He's addressing me as he was a Gear. But I never heard of a Spartan before, and this kind of armor is…_ "What kind of armor is that?"

"MJOLNIR, Mark IV."

The others waited a more detailed explanation, and the Chief waited for a response.

"So, just what does that mean?" Dom was glancing around at the green and battered metal covering. Master Chief John 117 just gave up trying to explain himself. Aside from hating having to talk so much, he would rather they find out on their own what it meant.

"Don't you have to contact you leaders?" The Chief said harshly as he started walking back to the Bridge.

"Hey!" Mark turned, watching his progress. "Where're you-"

"I need more ammo or weapons." He tossed the Sergeant an almost empty clip. "I need a weapon… a new weapon."

"Right…"

While Alpha stared after the Spartan, Delta decided to use his suggestion. Marcus lifted his hand to the small headset next to his ear. "This is Sergeant Fenix of Delta Squad. Anya, are you there?"

A small static interference momentarily shook their hopes, but her voice then floated back to them. "Copy Delta! Where have you guys been!? It's been two hours since we heard from you all!"

"We know. Several seeders got in our way." Marcus glanced to Alpha. "We have made contact and rallied up with Alpha, position, Stonewell canal."

"Stonewell? You guys took it back from the Locust?"

"For the moment," he nodded," yeah."

"That's amazing! Way to go Marcus!" she paused, breathing heavily, apperantly calming down. "Uhh, you said you were with Alpha now?"

"Copy that."

"Great. While you were off, we've had several King Ravens scour the area of possible landing for the unidentified object. It hit what's left of Herslof Cathedral, then skipped on ground until it skidded into Gredled Forest. And from your position… you're about a good three hours walk to there, so we recommend you head over."

"You couldn't secure it with the Ravens?"

"No! We couldn't!" Colonel Hoffman had gotten on the air. "Locust are aware of the object too, and if our speculations are right, they will want to know what hit their third weapons stash of your area, the cathedral."

"So, we're still going after the falling thing?"

"The purpose of this mission hasn't changed in these hours Sergeant!" a gruff scoff was heard. "Get your thoughts straight!"

"Roger." He was about to lower his hand, then a thought kept it up." We found some people."

"Strandeds?" Anya asked, now slightly curios.

"Yeah. Four helped us out, and two were K.I.A.'d though. And then…" he glanced back at the Chief, who was scouring around for a good weapon," something else. Something called a 'Spartan'. Colonel," Marcus changed his voice to sound as invasive as he could to provoke Hoffman to answer," you wouldn't know what a 'Spartan' ranking is, would you?"

"Spartan?" nothing came for a good few minute. "No, actually, we never heard of anything like that."

"Copy that. Could you look into that for us, we have…" again, he glanced back, seeing the Chief now with a Lancer rifle, "someone called 'Spartan one, one, seven. He's got green armor, walks and looks human, but is seven feet tall."

"…Looks like I've got some investigating to do." Some shuffling was heard," I will keep you posted on information regarding 'Spartans', but I want the best from your end; do you understand, Sergeant!?"

"Crystal."

"Ok, Marcus, you want to head North West now. Actually-" she paused, and a curse under her breath was lightly heard. "No, head south west. There is a network of sewers that will lead you closer to the landing site than by foot, and will probably have you avoid more Locust contact."

"Alright, we're moving then."

"Good Luck, Alpha, Delta."

"We're out."

He dropped his finger, only to have Delta, Alpha, the two strandeds, and the Spartan all around him.

"We have a place to head. Some tunnels are located south west of here that will get us to our location easily, so lets get moving." With that, the two squads started moving, along with the Strandeds.

"Chief?" Cortana was watching the ten others walked away. He, 117 had not moved a single bit.

"Should we follow?"

"I would see it in our best interests. I think they're looking for what's left of our ship. They said something about 'unidentified object', remember?"

"And they made an inquiry about us."

"Well?"

The Spartan made his mind up at that. He started following them.

"I think you made your mind up." Cortana wondered what the short term future would bring them, as he sped off after them, holding his new gun, the Lancer.

* * *

Strange. These reports you bring me, imply something so odd. 

Are my soldiers, my great children, are you all telling me, that you fear this newcomer? With the single defeat and their victory, you would cower back into the shadows!?

No. No the Locust are not this weakling bunch that will simply let a stranger walk over their lands. Not now, not ever!

Yet, these reports… a man of green, tall and a large, yellow, single eye… sound so…

But it matters not, my great Locust. We will discover the meaning of these events, and continue with the plans. The Gears, the Humans, the _earthlings_… they will fall despite their so called 'victory'; despite this appearance. They cannot beat that which will not loose.

We will continue with our own plans to our own offensive attack.

General S.C.Y.T.H.E., I wish that you prepare a large force for attack. I want it ready within two days. If not, sooner.

Remember our predecessors, my children. Do **Not let the Humans Survive This WAR!!**

* * *

And thus ends chapter 9, or Part one of Men of War. Want to guess who the voice in the last part is!?

Ah, you guys are smart, so you should know. It's cool hu? And it gives a LOT of hints for the future.

And like Cortana said, the future is going to hold a lot of stuff for them.

So read again, or just Review, because I wish to see some thoughts of my fellow readers! this is an important chapter after all!

Thanks, and next chapter coming soon!!

EZB

P.S., damn, so much handshaking going on!! (Has a chestburster shoot out of his chest) WTF!? This is the wrong story for this kind of thing! (dies)


	10. Running Scared Shitless

Hey guys! Back to Men of War! Now, Part II! And that is sorta like an act being done and finished in the campaign mode in Halo or Gears. Your pick really.

So, just to kick it off, lets start it off, five minutes after the last chapter!

Seeya guys at the end of the chapter!

* * *

"He really creeps me out. Ya know?" 

"I don't see anything wrong with him."

Sergeant Agron gawked at Fenix. "He's seven feet tall and is entirely covered in green armor!" he whisper/shouted at the calmer, more experienced man next to him.

"Yeah, and our enemy uses ten feet tall creatures, twenty feet tall creatures, and fifty feet tall creatures. So, if height is the problem-" Marcus glanced back behind him, just to be sure.

Behind the two Sergeants were their squads, then the two Strandeds, looking out of place without the heavy amount of armor and gear with only ragged, torn clothing as their armor. Then, behind them, was the hulking beast of a man, his new Lancer Rifle on his shoulder.

Marcus was still thinking about this one. The Spartan- whatever that meant. The unnatural height, the impressive fighting ability, and the almost silent and stoic behavior- it did creep him out, even if he wouldn't admit it to the younger man next to him.

"I still have suspicions that he's an alien." Marcus blinked and realized that the other Sergeant had spotted his views, and tracked them. "but… I really don't know."

"Yeah, that makes two of us."

Behind them, the two squads were 'mixing' in. Mostly, Cole and Howard.

"What about number 21?"

"Naw, man!"

"30?"

Cole laughed. "Jerry could run, he could hit, but he couldn't see worth shit!"

Howard and Cole had been cheerily exchanging words for almost the entire duration of the walk, first, talking about war, kills, and 'fun'. Now, they had moved onto thrashball.

"How about 27?"

"Hmm, Maybe. He's got moves, but goes down pretty easy."

Hank, the stranded who usually doesn't say much at all, timidly rose a hand. "56?"

Both large men turned to the new voice. "56?" Cole repeated, a look of surprise on his face.

"Yeah… well, could you?"

"Man, he was almost as big as I was back then!" Cole laughed heartily, apparently remembering good times. "But that fat ass could run worth shhit."

"Oh, ok." Hank paused, apparently thinking. "How about…" he stopped, and turned, looking at the ground, about five feet behind him.

"How about what?" No one else but Eric and the Chief had noticed the pause in the second Stranded.

"Hu?"

"I said- what'chu looking at?" Cole had turned, to speak louder, only to find the three glancing at the same spot.

"Hank." Eric switched between the ground and his friend, and the quickly at the Chief. "Is it-"

"It's… nothing." He raised his gun again, back up to his chest, and started walking. "Just a feeling."

Back at the front, both Sergeants had paused, watching the progress behind them. Mark spoke first. "It may have been a feeling," he turned, looking as serious at Marcus as he could," but some 'feelings' are instinctual."

"He said it was nothing." Marcus started walking away again.

"Hey-"

The experienced man turned briefly to face the other Sergeant. "Keep an eye out though."

Mark Agron nodded, and raised his gun shortly, as if scanning the area. Both Dom and Richard noticed. And in a strange coincidence, looked at each other, nodded, and started glancing around. The seven behind them stared, awkwardly.

The Chief was still the last one in the group. And his mind was thinking as much about them as they were about him.

They, quite possibly were some of the most unprofessional soldiers he had come to meet- and that was saying a lot- back on Earth, he had come across a strange scene with a marine and another soldier, who wouldn't let him through a door because he didn't know the password.

These guys were informal, cocky, inexperienced, and all of them unique characters to themselves. The First Sergeant he met- young, quick to judge, yet had some firmness in him.

The rest of the 'Alpha' squad- a friend for a Private First Class, a murderous looking and almost psychotic man, and a large, friendly giant. As for Delta, another friendly 'second in command', an ass, and a man who's having fun when killing.

The Sergeant for that squad however… he seemed the most likely to be the Leader altogether. He was direct, right to the point. From the little the Chief saw, he was also an experienced fighter.

So, how- how did this group of unlikely soldiers all meet up, and beat extraordinary odds that had stacked up against them?

"Luck."

"What is it chief?" Cortana asked, unsure of the sudden spoken word.

"You said you picked me for luck once."

"Yeah? Feeling lucky today?"

He just looked at those in front of him. There was always more than met the eyes, and these people were no exception.

Ahead of them, the lower ranks of the two squads had began to talk again. Howard desperately searched around for his Hammer of Dawn, which he had brought with him.

"Where… did I… put that damn machine?"

"You dropped it, right after meeting the Spartan." Carey spoke out, in his usual dark tone of a voice.

"W-What!?" he glanced in the direction they had come from, longing miss in his eyes. "Why didn't you say something?"

Carey said nothing, only glanced at a building, from where a few pebbles had fallen off.

"Our H.O.D.'s were busted in the fight before this one. Wouldn't work any more." Said Dom, cranking his head around for a better view of the other soldiers.

"Satellites must be off-line." Baird said, actually not adding an aggressive tone to his usual angry voice.

"Satellites? You use orbital weapons against these things?" Cortana asked through the headsets, having everyone jump up momentarily.

"Yeah. Hammer of Dawn- targeting device that pinpoints a very select area on the surface and in the open so the orbiting stations can target Locust, or whatever." Baird again seemed to refrain from his angry voice.

"Very interesting. What do you do when you're in a building or underground?"

"We…" Baird growled, his angry persona returning in a flash," run, hide, and shoot guns."

"Heads up." Marcus half shouted, half growled to those behind him.

"Whoa." Was all the two strandeds could say.

A massive opening to a tunnel law straight ahead. It size was comparable to that of a four story building, and was still intact. They had found The Stonewell sewage system. And they knew it to be the sewage system from the smell.

"Ugh!" Richard waved his hand in front of his face, trying to fan the air.

"Oh no!" Baird was outright enraged, a vein pulsing in his forehead and pointing an accusatory finger at those in front. "Not more Sewers! No way!"

"Baird-" Marcus was interrupted again by the spiky blond.

"No-fucking-way am I going through another sewer system like that!" he took a step back. "I'd rather fight Locust!"

"Baird…"

"No! It's bad enough that… what's that sound?" he had finally noticed the rumbling around them. Small sections of tiles on the paved ground shook and some shattered as the ground shook. Serveral loose structures collapsed as the shaking got worse.

"Sounds like-" Started Mark.

"We got company." Finished Marcus, pulling out a grenade.

Master Chief was now at the front of the group, being that everyone was facing away from the large opening to the sewers.

"Chief, you might want to back up."

"What?"

Cortana sounded scared, and that was never a good sign. "Something is about to jump out of the ground, ten meters in front of us." Chief glanced at the radar system inside his helmet. Something was getting closer, but from down, not across. Something was rising.

"Something… Big." He raised his gun, then leapt back as the ground, only ten meters from where he was a moment ago, burst open, a huge spider-like leg pushing out, then landing hard on the ground to support itself. More and more legs shot from the general Area, like an arachnid emerging from a hidden nest.

"Corpser!" Marcus and the others had backed up.

"Grreat! Juust wonderful!" Baird also had his gun out, focused and determination in his eyes.

"Hey, these things aren't hard to kill!" Marcus shouted to the others. "all we have…"

His voice had momentarily left him. To either side, a little behind the first, still emerging Corpser, more large legs were shooting up and supporting coming bodies. Not one, but three enormous arachnid like creatures were surfacing.

Mark didn't avert his eyes from the now emerged enemies, yet tilted his head to Marcus. "Plan?"

No words came.

"Marcus… HEY!!" Mark just noticed that Marcus Fenix had already ran for the Sewage system, roadie-running all the way. "WAIT FOR US!!"

The others frantically ran to catch up with him. Only the chief stayed slightly behind. He was taking in the sight of three large beasts, each slightly reminding him of the covenant Scarabs.

"Chief!? They're heading inside the Sewers!" The Spartan barely registered Cortana's worried voice.

"Chief!"

Finally he shook himself from the awesome sight of the now emerged Corpsers, and ran, full sprint after the others, who still hadn't made it inside of the Sewage piplines. Luckily for him, he was by far faster than any of them and easily caught up.

"How… fast are you??" Richard shouted between gasps of air as the Chief sped past him, pulling out a grenade he had scavenged from one of the fallen drones back at the Canals.

"This aught to work." He stopped, skidding on the ground.

They had made it inside of the Sewers, just past the opening. And the Corpsers had started advancing after the others.

"Spartan! What are you-" Dom started, only to pause in his shouting as the Chief pulled out the pin to the grenade and smoothly tossed it away, at a pipeline.

"Run." Was all he said as the grenade exploded, causing a 'domino' effect from the pipeline that encased the entrance of the sewer exit/entrance. It fiery explosion that ripped from the metal pipes cracked the foundations, and had the roof in that area buckle under its weight.

Soon, the entrance started to collapse, just as the monstrous beasts reached the entrance.

"It's stopping them!" Shouted someone from the group- from the noise of the falling pieces of roof, it was unidentifiable.

Soon, the light faded and pitch darkness was ensured as the entrance was blocked completely.

"Looks like we aren't going back." Growled Marcus, who still couldn't see anything.

"No shit… sir."

"Shut up Baird."

"Can you guys turn on a flashlight or something!" came an almost shaking voice of Hank.

"What?"

"It's a little dark."

"Scared?"

"Shut up."

"Aww," Baird taunted, still completely invisible to anyone else," wittle scawed of da darwk?"

"Kryll like darkness, asshole." Shot back Hank, who was heard shuffling around to the left of the group.

"Enough you guys!"

"Hold on a second." The chief paused, then flicked on his visor lights.

"Oh-damn!"

Richard got the full blast of the light shining in his eyes, and quickly fell back to the ground.

"You ok?"

"Hey, Spartan." Chief turned his head to the sound of Marcus, and found him ahead of the others. "Thanks."

Master Chief nodded, waving the light from his head.

"No! Hold the light still, I need to find my flares!"

"Oh." The Chief re-focused his head onto the general body of the Sergeant.

After a minute or two, a small stick was found in one of his many pockets. Slapping it against his knee, it burst into light at one end, sending sparks that lit the entire tunnel, which seemed to go on in one direction forever.

"We have more walking to do." He lifted the stick, and saw that the center of the tunnel was a division in which an open sewage path led.

"Gross." Baird's reaction was expected, along with the half the others, whom most held hands to their faces.

"Lets just hope…" Started Marcus, who had began to walk down the tunnel," that others haven't vacated the premises in human absence."

"Sure, lets also hope that we run into a nice smelling place… for once." Complained Baird once more, before following the others.

* * *

Ok, so part II has begun! Essentially, the journey to what's left of the wreckage. And I plan some more action along the way. I mean, it is a Halo/Gears of War Crossover, right? 

Well… I'm going to go outside.

(steps outside)

Ah, what a nice day- (steps on a trip mine from Halo 3) … how'd one of these get on my porch!?

(He explodes, showing several Japanese tourists with blood as they take pictures of the explosion, then they walk away)


	11. What Lurks in the Dark

"This… stinks."

"That's really funny, ya know?"

"No, I mean it actually stinks. Like-"

Baird slid a few feet forward, a slippery section of the side path inside the tunnel wet with something damp.

"Oh- shit!" Baird grabbed onto a pole that caught the light of Marcus's flare, and attempted to stop himself from sliding into blackness, off the path and into the center tunnel, also the main sewage drain. However, it simple had him slip faster, and flip over and into his back.

The two strandeds couldn't stop laughing, nor could Richard. That was, until Baird got back up, looking murderous.

"What the fuck are you guys laughing at!?"

"Nothing!

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

Baird growled, and continued after Marcus and those ahead.

The line that had formed on the side of the Tunnel still had the same sort of pattern of assembly that it had started off with. Marcus, Dom, and Mark led in front, with Marcus holding the Bright Flare just above his head.

In the center were Baird, The two Strandeds, Richard, and Cole, who all seemed to follow Baird rahter than attempt to pass him and get on another nerve of the short tempered soldier.

Last were Howard, Cole, and then Master Chief, who contained Cortana. They had the least light from the lit Flare ahead, but the Chief's gear, which was situated with many various lights on sections of his armor, gave enough light for them.

However, they walked on space that could only allow two people at maximum to be side-by-side, and even then, be dangerously close to the twenty foot drop edge.

"So, what else does that armor have for you?" Stated Howard curiosly, craning his neck around to get a view of the lit man.

"Personal shields, enhanced strength, oxygen supply, enhanced speed, and then weapon resilient metal."

Howard's mouth was drooping slightly at the end of the list. "So… who makes those exactly, and where can I get one?"

The chief decided to ignore the comment.

The walk continued on for what felt like an hour- or possibly days. In the absolute darkness that they advanced in, no one could tell. And the subject of time was not brought up, for a good time of the walk.

The only thing that would punctuate the constant silence was the occasional step on wet surface, or Baird complaining of something he could, then Marcus telling him to shut up. Aside from that, they did good at staying quiet.

"What's this?" Mark held Marcus back for one moment, pointing into a section of the path ahead. To the side, a darker area lay next to the path. Marcus held the flare higher, moving the light further ahead. It was a doorway.

"What's in here…" Marcus lowered the flare again to just above his head, and started for the door, however with his gun securely positioned and ready for any coming attack. Those few behind the two who could hear in detail also mimed the readying of their weapons.

Marcus reached the doorway, and after pausing to look inside, decided to walk into the dark and rather small hallway that continued.

"So, what we look'in for in here?" Cole was having a harder time than the others at literally squeezing into the tight hallway.

"Weapons, supplies-"

"A damn break. My legs are killing me." Richard nearly shouted his interruption in front of Marcus, and after glares from several others, toned down a 'sorry'.

"We don't have time for a break- what do we have here?" Dom stopped, spotting a door that the two Sergeants had missed. The door read 'Employees lounge'. "Might be some food in here."

"Not sure what person in their right mind will work down here, but…" Richard said, perplexed at such a random appearance of the type of room.

"It maybe be part of a former building up above." Marcus glanced down the dark Hallway again, looking for a sign of stairs. "People might have barricaded this area up, so maybe we should just-"

Master Chief literally pushed through the crowd, and easily kicked the door down in one move. "Not barricaded."

He walked in, shining his light around the room he just entered. The lounge, or more of a large cafeteria, was completely dark, filled with dusty chairs, tables, and a small area where a large TV with two couches sat, also collecting dust. The room was completely uninhabited.

"Safe."

"Nice room. Wonder if they still have some working freezers." Mark started off for the opposite side of the room, looking for some holders for food. "Damn I'm hungry." Richard followed him.

"A TV! Nice!" Dom walked up to the huge flat screen, and started to dust it off, just as the others slowly walked into the room.

"Guys look- we can't stat here for that-" Marcus was shoved slightly as Baird charged past, looking frantic.

"I'll look for a power box! Maybe there's an emergency activation."

"Hey! We can't stay here long!"

"Oh c'mon man!" Cole walked past him, waving him closer to the T.V. "We've been walking in an ass-filthy crap pile. A thirty minute break to get the smell off for a bit."

"You can't be serious." Marcus started, and then Master Chief walked past him, and sat down on a large chair, and started to examine the Lancer Rifle he had scavenged earlier. That seemed to finalize the break. "Fine, we get a thirty minute pause, then we start again. And someone look for ammo or supplies, we're running dry on bullets and grenades."

"I'll look." Carey nodded briefly, then walked off into the dark, looking like a disappearing shadow.

"I'll…" Howard glanced around," help with the TV."

"Yeah, you go do that."

As the large man walked over to the huge screen where Dom and Cole still crouched, Marcus walked over to the Spartan, who was disassembling his gun, examining each part. The youngest in the entire group, namely Eric and Hank, glanced at each other, and just drifted around, looking at each individual activity through the Shadows.

"This is an impressive gun." Master Chief suddenly blurted out, to the man now sitting next to him, as they both faced the still open door; it still being open because the Chief had knocked it off its hinges.

"It does its job well, if that's what you mean." He pointed to the now detached chainsaw. "That right there is a genius's work. So simple and effective that it seems stupid."

"Funny how those mix like that." The Spartan continued working on taking apart the weapon, and examining each part he removed.

"Why're you doing that?"

"I like to know my gun."

Baird came running back into the area with the Torch, getting Marcus's attention. "Found a power box!"

"Then get power back."

"Well, if it was still intact, I would, but- oh never mind!" he turned away, and as he ran back to the same direction he came from, almost shouting over his shoulder 'I'd like to see you try to fix this!'.

"He's got a lot to say."

Marcus turned again to the Spartan, who had almost completely disassembled the rifle. "Baird's an ass, yeah. But he's got some nice moves himself, and he…" Marcus paused again. The fact that Baird knew so much about the Locust never had caused him pause, but now that he had come to think about it, he never knew how he came to know so much about the Locust.

"What?"

"…He's got a lot of information on our enemy. He practically knows every move they have so far."

Nothing more was said for a moment.

"Got it!"

Marcus turned, expecting to find Baird, but instead, Found the second Sergeant coming back with several sealed plastic packages in his arms, Richard following him with the same sort of supplies.

"What do you guys have…" Marcus picked up one package, reading aloud the names. "Gerald's Cereal Snacks." He put it back down, looking at another. "Healthy… healthy… isn't there something here that's not-"he located a bag of chips, "good enough."

Mark grabbed on of the cereal snacks, and tore off the wrapping and hungrily bit it in half. "A little stale, but considering how old these are, it's not bad."

"Well," Dom came over, dusting his hands off, followed by Howard and Cole," the TV is fine. Now we just need power and then we have some nice things to watch."

"We're only here for thirty minutes." Marcus reminded him, then shoveling a handful of chips in his mouth.

"They got some nice selections of movies down here. Check it out." He tossed a digital record of a film at Marcus, who caught it and inspected it.

"Wow, they have the extended edition of Wrath and Time Trouble, hu?" he handed it back to Dom. "You son would have loved it."

"Yeah, I know."

"OW!"

Baird's shout interrupted their talking, and all eyes present directed to Baird, who now came back, rubbing his hand.

"Power will be up. Give me one of them." He reached greedily into the pile of floor, and found a cracker bag. "Whatever." He said before tearing it open with his teeth, his hands too dirty to really eat with.

Or, that's what Mark thought before he then saw the brilliant engineer reach in and pull out four large crackers and wolf them down as the fluorescent lights flickered on and the area was all visible.

"Nice job."

"Yeabh- theshe thingshs tasht crappy."

"Ever hear of washing you hands?" Mark said, staring at the almost blackened hands from the dust and grime.

"What- uck! Gross."

* * *

Carey now could actually see what he was doing. He had located a cabinet labeled 'weapons' but until the lights came on, could not find the lock to break open.

After grasping, and with his gun breaking it open, he wrenched open the doors, to behold a nice supply of weaponry.

Almost every Gears standard weapon was in here; Lancer Rifle, and ten cartridges of ammo, Two Gnasher Shotguns, along with several shells, and three extra pistols. And in a shelf below, labeled, explosives, he found three grenades.

"Good."

After picking one Grenade, up, he realized it was completely useless, not having any explosive potential, and picked it up to fast, having it fly out of his hand. It stumbled away, and to another door that was also broken.

He groaned, and went to pick it up. And as he bent down, he saw something in the dusty floor.

A fresh footprint, and it was not human. It lead to the door, which now as he saw, was actually a door to a set of stairs leading down, to a cellar.

"…not good."

He went back to the weapons quickly, crammed as many things from the cabinet as he could in a backpack he found next to the cabinet, and ran from the door.

* * *

"What do you think about the story though?"

"I don't watch those."

"Oh come on, they were big once- everybody knew about them! A two year old could tell you the Vampire's name-"

The discussion of the group, which had collected around the snacks, centered around the animated film Dom had found, and now had escalated into a classic discussion of character, plot, and simple story.

"But, what kind of Hero were they? He liked killing everything that-" Richard was stopped as Carey had just come back, looking scared. "What is it?"

"I got weapons, ammo, flares, and three grenades." He quickly too each one out and tossed them onto the snacks.

"Hey!" Baird got up angrily, his next selected food now mush. "What do you think your-"

"Finally, some new flares." After Mark's comment, the others quickly grabbed a flare, save but Baird, who still glared at Casey in anger.

"Pick some, and then we have to go. NOW." Carey was reloading his Longshot Rifle, looking over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Mark had gotten up, and tossed his half-eaten snack away. He had only seen Carey act like this once before. "What did you find?"

"We aren't-"

A loud and high piercing screech stunned them silent. Although it was muffled, it was unmistakable.

"Fucking shit." Baird took a step back.

"Wretches. Last thing I wanted in tight, dark spaces." Marcus grabbed some ammo, along with everyone else, and loaded.

"Break's over." Master Chief had re-pieced his gun and stood up. "Time to get moving." He cocked the gun, and walked casually to the door, and as he passed them, he grabbed one of the grenades from the pile.

"Yeah…" Marcus cocked his gun, and looked back to the gun cabinet. "What he said. Let's move!"

They ran now, pell-mell out of the room and into the hallway, and then finally out and into the Tunnel.

Now it was Master Chief who was doing the leading. He ran, not faster enough to outrun them, but to stay ahead. Then…

"Chief, I just got something on the Radar. Something… no, lots of… I don't know what…" Cortana again sounded through his speaker and the others com system. Then the Chief heard it.

Hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of small, leather like wings.

"OH fuuuck me!" Baird said, and glanced back, then glanced up.

Lining the tunnel roof were storm drains, many openings for water to seep into. And now the sounds of countless wings flapping and screeching could be heard pouring out and into the main tunnel.

"Kryll!!" Marcus shouted as far behind them, huge swarms poured out and soared at them, screeching as they flew.

The Spartan though wasn't looking back. He would only ever look back if he had to. But ahead, he saw the light. A light at the end of the tunnel.

They were almost at the end.

"Hey-Hey!" Mark almost skipped a beat when he too saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

"They're coming!" Dom spotted Kryll now not only behind them, but along side them, on the opposite side of the Tunnel.

They were getting closer too.

"Give me that!" Eric reached in, and grasped out a flare, and slapped it on his shoulder. As it burst into light, several Kryll that had almost closed the distance screeched and flew away, back into the cloud of black and leather.

"They light of flares are too intense for them at close proximity!" Eric then tossed the Flare at the swarm, and the entire cloud screamed and flew back, some actually exploding in a gooey death while others just fell to the floor, dead.

"Use the Flares until we reach the end of the tunnel!"

As he said this, Howard pulled out one, then repeated the same process, gaining similar results. Carey, along with Baird and Cole also tossed live flares at the mass of creatures.

"We only have one per person!"

What Eric hadn't predicated was that the Kryll had been keeping their distance because of the flares at present. Now, they were closing in, and fast.

"We're almost there!"

The Chief then sprinted. And the others tried to catch up, just as they passed into the bright light of the sun, the warmth washing over those who didn't have complete heat/cold resilient armor.

"YES! yes, yes yes!" Richard actually jumped up and into the air just to crash down, sliding on the ground with the sheer speed that he was running at. He seemed happier than ever, until he smashed into a large trunk of a tree.

"OW!"

"Well, they Kryll aren't coming out."Marcus glanced back at the exit of the large tunnel, and the Kryll seemed to have retreated.

"But… how far was that tunnel?"

Dom was right. They were now in a forest clearing.

"What the-"

"Weren't we supposed to end up close to the wreckage?" Marcus glanced around. The large canopy of the forest blocked out all signs of the City they had been in. The jungle like terrain was almost constricting to breath in.

"Well…" Mark then put his hand to his ear. "Lieutenant Stroud, I have a question for ya."

A buzz of static and then her voice was heard. Anya was recalled, however, she sounded… irritated.

"I read you, Sergeant Agron. What can I help you all with?"

"Anya?" Marcus now put his hand to his ear. "We used the tunnel… but we're in some forest. Not sure were exactly."

"What?"

"The tunnel, you recommended us, Lieutenant, has lead us somewhere else." Mark seemed to underline the word 'Lieutenant' with harshness.

"Well, Sergeant Agron, maybe if you had waited for me to finish the first time I spoke, you would have known that there was a set of stairs around the center of the tunnel that lead you up and out, only about a mile away from the crash site."

"Stairs!?"

"Hold on." Marcus halted the argument that seemed to come out of nowhere, and then spoke to Anya. "We tried that, but Wretches had taken the residence."

"I'm sorry guys, but I- it looks like you will have walk back on the surface. You should only be about two miles away."

"Two miles awa-" Mark started.

"We'll take it." Marcus again interrupted the second Sergeant. "We'll keep you posted, Fenix out." He put his hand down, and turned to Mark. "Want to explain that right there?"

"…No. Let's just find out where we're going."

"Good." Marcus turned to the others. "Who here can climb?"

They all glanced at each other.

A minute later Eric had already gotten up the tree, and past the canopy.

"What can you see?"

"Well…" he paused, and looked south. "Smoke trail, about an hour… or two hour walk south. The city is another hour walk."

"Ok then, we're going to get moving if-"

"Hey guys?"

The others glanced back up. "What?"

"We have a problem."

* * *

Hehehe, Cliffhanger! But you guys want to guess what the problem is, you are free to guess in a Review. But because I liked writing this story so much, another chapter will most likely be up in two or three days.

No, I'm serious.

So, what did you guys think? Nice little switch of feeling? Ah, I don't know. Just tell me what you think in a hopefully pleasant review.

Oh, and I will die of a heart attack and fall out of my chair similar to the death of the Animator from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Random guy: Suddenly the writer had a heart attack-

GAAH!! (spaz's out for one second, then falls backward with chair)


	12. Salvage

"We have a problem."

All of them exchanged glances, and turned their heads skyward, craning to the still high imbedded Stranded.

"Sounds like our luck." Dom said gloomily.

"What is it? More Locust?" Marcus felt prepared for almost anything at this point. He had literally experienced more in one day than he had expected in a week. However, for a man who spent his time killing reptilian humanoids, that was a lot. He had fought; that was normal. He had encountered Strandeds; not uncommon. Had not one, but three Corpsers ambush them; rather rare. And then he had wound up with this being, the Spartan.

_What a weird day_ He thought. "Well?" Marcus wanted a quick answer from the Stranded, who still perched himself up in the tree.

"How long do you guys think we were in that tunnel?" Eric sounded shaky; either out of fear from the height, or whatever he saw up in the canopy.

"Just spit it out!"

"Whatever it is, it won't wait for you to say it-"

"Yeah, I got that." The young man looked down. "The sun is setting, and it won't wait for us." He started to climb down.

"Well, that just adds on the list of good things today."

"What's so bad about the sun setting?" If Cortana was one of the present in physical form, she would have glanced around. "Then these 'locust' will have a harder time-"

"The little shits flying inside," Baird spoke in a general direction, still to creped out by Master Chief to look at him directly while shouting," are nocturnal."

"My god…"

"And that was just one little group of them. They live under the more expansive sewer sections entrenching the main cities! So," Baird walked up to Marcus, seemingly done with the AI," even if we get to the crashed ship, which we have to find still, we need to get back to the city, so we're-"

"Going." Marcus walked off and away from Baird, who stared in disbelief.

"That- that's a joke, right?"

"Marcus-" Dom followed a little behind his friend and comrade.

"He's right." Master Chief followed, his claimed rifle in his arms.

"Spartan." Master Chief turned to the second Sergeant, Mark Agron. "You came from that object, right?"

He nodded.

"Does it have any lights?"

"There isn't any way to tell." Cortana said wearily. "Right now, I don't even know how intact it is. It could be blasted apart, or could be whole and power still working."

"Either way," Marcus started walking again, now with the general crowd following him," he need to get there. Our orders still stand."

"Besides," Richard spoke up, with a discouraged smile on," we either stay here and die without lights-"

"We still have the Flares!" Baird pointed to those who have the small sticks which hadn't been used.

"Flares aren't permanent." Hank said, just as Eric landed next to him, and was handed his rifle back.

"Flares are good, but considering the length of time of night to these flares, and then our numbers-"

"Ok! I got it."

"Oh," Eric started up again," and there are clouds heading our way from north. Dark ones."

"Lets move." Master Chief, in his decided mind, stepped past Marcus and the others, heading ahead. Then…

"Wait a second. Cortana, this is the right way, right?"

"Yes!" she gave an exasperated sigh. "The ship's tracker still is intact and working. We're a little shorter than two miles away."

"Good." He started moving again.

Marcus started just a moment after he did. Followed by Mark, Dom, Rich, Eric, Hank, and Howard. The others followed after they did. Once again, they were on the move.

"So," Howard asked the young blond who walked just ahead of him," how'd you know about the flares against-"

"Kryll are never around any source of light." The young man didn't turn, still looking ahead. "The flares count. The problem is that they are intense at close proximity. Kryll are smart enough to know to stay away from even faintly intense light."

"Still, how'd you-"

"Long time ago, before I even had a… well, a name…" he slowed slightly, having those behind him slow themselves to avoid knocking into him," my family was trying to be rescued by Gears."

"What?" Richard turned back to him. This one fact caught the Gears attention.

"Long time ago, I think they along with me, were being rescued. At night though, and… those soldiers gave their lives to protect my family and me. Kryll swarmed them, tore them to shreds." His eyes, for those who could see past the hair that had covered most of his face since he had lowered his face, swam with memories.

"My… father… I think, I still can't remember, took a torch, as a last resort, and…"

"Hey." Master chief had come out of no where. Somehow he had snuck past each one of the listening soldiers and winded up right behind Eric. "You guys stopped."

"Whoa!" the young stranded flipped out at the seven foot man directly behind him. "How- how are you able to… be so quiet??"

He shrugged.

After shaking off the shock, he started walking again, but only after letting the large green armored man past him.

"Well, some one told me that the guy closest me had tossed a flare by me, just away from my eyes so that I wouldn't get blinded, but so that I would be safe from Kryll."

"Yo dad was one smart dude." Cole nodded in respect to him.

"Yeah, he sounds like a smart guy." Baird seemed less shaken by the information, glancing around the area at various plants.

"So, that's all I really can recall."

The challenge of the walk to their next destination had changed. The forest, as thick and savage looking as it could be, did have supple light for them all, giving them a good view of the sky and a faint trace of the sun's progress. They also hadn't worry of falling into a steep drop twenty feet down. Now, it was getting separated.

The forests of Sera were some of the most unexplored in humanities existence. While records show that at first, people had initially used the wood for homes and structures, most of the cities and buildings had been completely used of Seras' unusually high supply of hard materials and metals. Cities made of stone and steel covered a large portion of the planet.

With this absence of need from wood, people had stayed mostly away from the huge forests of the world, leaving them unexplored and potentially dangerous. Terrain and size were known, but what inhabited them, was generally not.

"Looks like we're getting closer." Marcus spoke aloud as through the tree's branches, he spotted a trail of smoke. "Maybe half an hour left."

"Sunlight is going soon too." Eric glanced behind them. "And the clouds are catching up. Maybe…. Three hours behind us."

"If we don't get to a safe place, it won't matter." Hank sounded as hopeful as someone would have if they were just that they had eaten seriously poisoned food.

"Cortana-"

"I'm on it." she paused, and then her voice floated back. "Six hundred meters ahead."

"What? Only that far?" Baird was either stunned, or for the first time as far as anyone was concerned sounded happy. "Start running then!" Baird literally charged past the others, his eyes glued forward. The others couldn't help but follow him, trying not to get separated.

"Whoa!" Baird stopped just short of running into a large chunk of metal that had cleaved a section of forest into pieces.

It was a part of the Frigate. About fifteen feet high, and twenty feet wide, it was plating for the ship.

"Looks like we found it Chief."

"This is what's left?" Mark said, examining it thoroughly.

"So much for something a little more-"

"Hey, dudes, over here." Cole waved them over, right of the piece of metal. He was looking slightly up and past the area they were standing at. "That's what we're lookin' for."

The massive second half of the ship had skidded into the forest, stopping only one hundred meters from their current location. It, to the others, was massive- the size of a six story building. And what was more, it was intact.

Well mostly intact. It was pointed, from the area where it had been split into two, twenty degrees up, its mostly intact section partially buried in the softened ground.

"Is the Power still on?" The Chief asked Cortana, as he scanned the various windows in the light, unable to tell if the light he saw was the light from the sun or the ships systems.

"I won't be able to tell unless we get in."

As he started to walk around to the opposite half were it had been cleaved in two, he realized that the word 'sun' was inaccurate. This was not Earth after all.

A dark corridor made of metal clinked, and occasional groaned. A portion of the metal grade ceiling had fallen out, having many live wires dangle dangerously out and in the open. Tiles from either side were displaced. The place had seen better days.

A muffled voice evaporated in. "Looks jammed."

"Stand back."

A loud bang, and the door shifted slightly, but a loud groan floated over from the other side.

"That door… ow… is hard!"

"Dawg, outa the way!"

A moment later, the door flew off its hinges, and blasted back two feet away, and fell back. Cole stood up, heaving slightly, with Dom slightly behind him, on the ground.

"You're still a beast Cole."

The black man turned nodding. "Hell yeah."

The others, lead by the Chief walked in after the first two. Baird whistled as he and the others glanced at the large corridor that stretched on for a while.

"So, the door was-" started the chief.

"Yup. The ship is in total lockdown. Nothing allowed in without access, or a little brute force." Cortana again sounded pleased with herself and the others for getting inside. "I need an access terminal to see if the systems are still working."

The Spartan clicked on his visor lights as the light was dimming, getting further away from the outside light.

"This ship- it's a ship right?" Baird had rushed up to the Chief, actual excitement in his eyes. "It's amazing… the technology is crazy!" He seemed half tempted to rip off a panel and dig into the ships walls to find some things to tinker with.

"Careful!" Cortana would have flashed angrily if she could, but only her voice caused him pause. "This ship could be more unstable than we think, if not- worse."

As soon as she finished that, Master Chief turned the corner and into a group of seven floating sentinels.

"Chief!"

He jumped back, raising his gun in preparation for a coming attack. Although the others did not immediately react, they soon followed similar action, confronting the floating machines. The former defenders of the Halo's however did nothing.

"What are they?" Richard slowly stepped up, and pushed one back. It stayed afloat, and did not return to its former location; simply staying as it is.

"Sentinels." The chief moved forward, his gun not entirely lowered, but not raised up._They hadn't attacked, or done anything. _

"So, are these things your robots? Or-" Baird said, interest in his eyes.

"It's a long story. Chief," Cortana got his attention again," get me to… there! There's a panel I can access- maybe I can reboot these… yank me." He had walked up to the panel. With only a slight pause to remind him of how long they had be separated only a few hours ago for him. Taking out the programming data, her 'physical' form appeared; the blue and purple coding forming a woman's nude body.

"Whoa." Marcus couldn't help himself.

The strandeds turned away, blushing. Dom nodded approvingly, and Richard actually wolf-whistled.

"Now that I'm in the system, I can activate the automatic turrets." They all straightened up. "Any more comments?" She turned back, and a small light composed panel appeared on the small platform she stood on.

"Cortana-"

"I'm on it chief." He shook his head slightly at being interrupted. She probably knew all to well that he was going to remind her that there were no automatic turrets built into the ship, at least not inside. "First, lights."

A loud whirr, and slight rumbling shook the floor. Lights flickered, and then died.

"Shit."

"Are you kidding me?" Baird was again pissed.

"The generator is up and running, but somehow won't connect to the power systems to lights, Outside and in." She turned back to them. "All we can use are doors, electronic panels, and maybe a few low powered systems."

The Spartan nodded, and held out his hand. Cortana made for his outstretched hand, and then paused. "Wait a second."

She turned back, and began to have more electronic panels come up, and started to make some sort of file. "That… should do it." she flicked her hand against on pad, and then turned to the Sentinels.

Each on shook momentarily, and then started hovering again, but now looking at the figures, examining each one.

"I sent a program that re-writes their objectives. When the ark was destroyed, they were probably separated from whatever system connected them. And even then," she looked to the chief," if my guess is right, it's been years since the Ark as destroyed. They wouldn't work anyway."

"A virus?"

"In essence, yes."

"So, what do they do now?" Mark was staring into one of the eyes of the machines, just as it stared back.

"Three things. One, protect this ship from all intruders not designated as humans or that attack the ship/them." She started to walk to the chief, listing off as she went. "Two, protect all humans within a half a mile radius." Finally, she reached him, and vanished into a blurry image, and then back into the tiny little device that held her.

"Last is…" Marcus waited.

"Last is to fight off any non-human humanoids that get anywhere close to this ship."

With that, each one beeped or hummed, and then flew off and past them, soaring through the corridors to get outside.

"So, what do they… do?"

"Each one is outfitted with a small plasma laser. Not as effective as the H.O.D.s you mentioned before, but enough to cook through a body in seconds. And they can avoid projectiles a little better than you I think."

"Great. Next on the to-do list, we need t find a safe place that has secure light sources." Marcus walked up to the chief, looking at his visor. "Can you fix that generator of yours?"

"No way." They both turned to Baird.

"What?" Marcus was sharing that pissed off mood Baird was so good at handing out.

"First, we need proper components to replace, then to find the problem, and get to it, and-"

"Ok!"

"Cortana." The chiefs forceful voice interrupted them again.

"What?"

"When you were in the system, was Armory number five still intact?" She paused, trying to recall.

"Yeah, but the second wall was torn off. The impact seems to have ripped a large gash in the side."

"Good."

He turned to the Strandeds, who neither seemed neither pleased nor thankful that he was walking to them.

"You live in the city?"

The glanced at each other. "Well… yeah." Eric decided to do the talking, yet again.

"You have a way to repel the Kryll?"

"So, yeah, we do. But we're half way inside the city. At least another two hours walk, and by now we got at least forty minutes left!"

"But, it has lights?"

"Yes."

Master chief nodded. "Good." And with that, he turned and walked to the main corridor that lead to Armory Five.

Marcus and Mark followed him closely, followed by everyone else. "Look-" Marcus started," Strandeds and Gears don't really mix. Those two," he quickly nodded his head to the young Strandeds," are an anomaly when it comes to the two mixing."

"Spartan, he is very right." Mark said in an approving way. Marcus waited for a more detailed continuation, however received none.

"What are you, my bitch?" Mark shrugged, lost with the meaning. "Forget it- even if we somehow make it, the chances of them letting us mingle are slim, and almost nothing really."

"You get us in, and I'll get you there." The Chief stopped at a large door. "Cortana." It clicked open, and he stepped forward just as the automated door slid up.

The phrase 'Amory' was a serious understatement. It was as if someone had taken a large gym, and then divided it up into six sections. On the right, were the weaponry and armor. On the left, vehicles.

The right side itself had three sections. The closest consisted of lockers and several benches, a storage area for miscellaneous use. The second, and middle section, had three rows, each pointing to the center of the huge room, each row filled with various weapons and things. Following that section were types of Armor- standard marine armor, reconnaissance type, camouflage, the simple human armors were there.

And on the other side, was a mess.

There should have been six mongooses, four Warthogs (two machinegun mounted, once coil mounted and one extra passenger), surprisingly, two ghosts during the time elites were here, and one scorpion tank.

With the fallen trash from the broken roof, two complete mongooses, three warthogs, a ghost and a slightly damaged scorpion tank lay intact. Several portions of other vehicles lay around, but were damaged to extensively to actually use.

The only light in the enormous room came from the large scar that stretched from the top of the roof center, all the way down to the end of the far side, making a large claw-like scratch in the side.

"Holy shit!"

"Fuckin' A! New weapons!" Eric and Hank ran for the far right side, right for the target things. The Chief started right for the center left, for the Warthogs and mongooses. Both sergeants followed, along with Dom and Howard. The others left for the guns.

"This ship is awesome." Mark couldn't say it any other way. "Just finding this thing may have saved us already."

The Chief nodded, and started for the far end of the 'room'. The others watched.

"This ship, its technology, him-" Dom turned to the others, "Who is he?"

"He said he was a Spartan, right?" Marcus walked up and by the driver side of the warthog. "If he's an alien, he knows how to make his cars. This thing looks mean." He glanced up at the mounted machine gun.

"I've never seen a car like this though." Howard said, from the other side of the car. "It's similar to a grounder, but…"

"Yeah, I know." Dom sat down by the wheels, examining them. "This has its similarities, but it just seems distant somehow, you know?"

"Yup." Marcus got up on the turret, and felt its controls. It would turn with the slightest of effort from the control, and it adjusted and compensated very effectively. "I still like it though."

"We're leaving soon." Master Chief had come back, a new gun in his arms, along with several others. He was carrying at least five weapons. As he did, he walked up to another intact warthog (the extra passenger) and dumped the weapons and things in. "Time to make your pick, because we're not coming back for a while." He had a new Assault rifle along with a

He started walking back for the weapons, just as the Standeds came up, now armed with Assault rifle, shotgun for one and sniper rifle for the other, and each dressed in the armor of stealth unit and then casual marine armor.

"Now, we are soldiers." Eric said, giving his best impression of a well known action hero from the past. "Lock…" he cocked his gun," and load baby."

"Well, if you guys are done, let's get moving already." Baird, followed by the rest, had come up, with their own selection of weaponry and supplies. "So, I called this thing." He held up a still inactive bubble shield.

"Cortana, lower the main doors. We're going to drive out." The chief had walked over to the last section, right next to the main door operating panel.

"Chief, all power will be off for at least another day or so if we-"

"We won't be back for a while."

With that, she nodded, and lifted her hand slightly, and the huge doors at the other end started to open up, with large loose scraps of metal falling away from it as it did. He reached back for Cortana, and started for the Vehicles.

The sun set outside, just in time to hear the roaring of engines as three large jeep-shaped cars went flying out, two stories above the ground. Each landed with a bang, however stayed upright, and started for the cities direction. And sun still set, leaving the remains of the ship to be left in the company of the new protectors; Sentinels.

Day is ending, and when night begins in Sera, the life expectancy of Gears soldiers is dropped to fifteen percent. But, average survive chance was at fifty percent anyway, so it really was nothing to that group now driving to escape the coming swarm.

* * *

Well, that was actually a littler longer than any other chapter I have written in this story. Cool. 

(Vent behind him rattles)

What the… ah whatever.

Sorry for taking so a long ass time. My sorry butt kept being delayed be the- blah blah blah (insert drabble about work, school, other crap here, along with comical touches) but I'm still not done, or dead!

(vent rattles again)

… That's getting annoying. (Metal grate bursts open, and Kryll burst form it, swarming around the small room)

**HOLY FUCK**!!! (Screams in pain as he's eaten into little bits of red meat. Later, a small rat comes in, and takes the last piece away and into his whole. A loud snap is heard)

Rat: Shizzle!


	13. Nightfall

The Warthogs roared past cluster after cluster of trees. Their noise seemingly unnoticed by anyone but those who rode in it. But behind several of those clusters, two scouts of locust watched.

Their minds were unsure of what they saw. It looked like a human contraption, but they had never seen such a vehicle of that sorts before. King Raven Choppers, yes. And larger, multi- personnel trucks or occasionally tanks, but those small and very fast… things they had never witnessed.

Non the less, they would tell the hive of this sighting. They would be prepared ahead, and they humans would meet a firm fight.

"What does this button do?"

"Don't press anything."

Eric looked to Marcus, who was driving. "Come on, it just says 'mp3/tuner."

"Good, then you already know what it does. We don't need any music to tell locust where we are." He turned the wheel, having the car follow the two ahead vehicles. Master Chief was driving the very front car, being directed by frank who had grudgingly sat shotgun. On their chain gun turret was Howard.

The Second Warthog was being driven by Mark; sitting next to him was Carey, and the gunner for the Gauss cannon was Cole, who seemed to enjoy the view, shouting at every bounce the car made.

The last Warthog was filled to the brim. Marcus was driving, while Eric gave directions next to him, and the rest of the squad, Richard, Dom and Baird. The back, which was a personnel carrier, was packed to the brim. Dom and Richard were looking in front, while Baird had been forced to lie in his stomach, his gun pointing out of the back, acting as a back defense.

"This sucks." Baird complained.

"Yeah, and who's gotta sit by your stinking ass?" Dom shook his head. "Dam, have you heard of showers before?"

Baird tried to glare at Dom, but slapped his head against the left seat, giving him a momentary headache. "Don't-want-to-hear-it."

"Alright man." Dom laughed slightly, and pounded the knuckles Richard had pushed out with his own.

"He's going to take a left here."

"Ok." Marcus started to adjust, and just before he mad a left, the front car made a right. "You said left!"

"…What's he doing? He's taking the right road?"

"What's wrong with that?" Richard spoke over the wind to him.

"We've avoided this area during dark hours." He turned to Marcus, about to explain why, but before he could say, buildings appeared, and they entered what used to be an indoor shopping mall with its large viewing windows smashed out, giving them a good space to drive through.

Inside, more trophies of humanities great progress on Sera still laid, partially intact. Shops for clothing, food, appliances, toys, more clothes- it all gleamed in a dust glow.

"What happened?" Chief asked the kid next to him without turning his head.

"Hu?" Hank glanced around, unsure of the topic. "What, to us?"

"To humanity." The Spartan still didn't take his eyes off the road. "Why is everything destroyed? Why are you fighting the locust?"

Hank stared at him, thinking. "Where are you from?"

"Earth. You?"

"What's earth?"

Master Chief couldn't find the right answer, or a way to put it to him. It was all of humanities hope, their home, and the last stand. If anyone should be living somewhere, it should be there. Why where they on this planet? This Warzone; this hellhole?

"Well, I can tell what I know. Locust struck first." He pointed to a huge whole just outside the windows of the mall. "About seventeen years ago, when I was about one, the Locust emerged, and just started to kill. That day… is known as Emergence day, or E-Day."

The chief glanced at him though his visor. "Why are they fighting us?"

"Don't know. They just do. They keep coming, no matter how badly we beat them- they just send more until we give up and they kill us or they just kill us."

"No prisoners?"

"No, they kill any Stranded that they can reach. And Gears get it worse. They just want us dead, and won't say why."

The Spartan drove out of the mall, flying off a small stand, and getting air in the process. He heard the three warthogs behind him follow, and continued.

"Which way?"

"Left, and then make a right."

One Car behind them, the Coil mounted Warthog was just turning after them. The slap against a curb had it jump slightly, and make Mark gasp in slight shock, surprise, or annoyance.

"How… do these things… drive…"

Carey looked down, and shifted the gear.

"Oh, thanks man."

"These cars," Cole said, spinning the cannon around with himself," are the true shit dawg!"

"Hey," Mark spotted something on a building," see if you can shoot that sign for Caprasin's Energizer Drinks off."

Cole barked a laugh, and adjusted, and fired one loud blast of the hard, and extremely fast projectile, landing a perfect hit on the sign. Both Cole roared in approval and Mark laughed madly.

"You guys shouldn't be using it like that." Carey said quietly.

"Come on man," Mark said, looking for another target as well as watching the road they were now on," we need the fun. There!" he pointed up, at a tall chapel, where a broken statue still stood, slightly crooked.

Cole got that too.

"Looks like they're having fun." Marcus said, smiling slightly as he watched the warthog in front continue to shoot various things down.

"What? Who's having fun?" Baird shouted from the back.

"Cole's enjoying the new toys we have." Dom said, just as the huge black man again blast a distant target. "You sure that's a good idea?"

Marcus thought for a moment. "Dunno. It could cause the Locust to find us, but after seeing that, would they want to?"

"Where is that idiot leading us…" Eric was watching the front car still, worry in his eye. As he stared, they turned left. "Ok, tell them to pull over."

"You sure about-"

"Hank doesn't have a fucking clue where he's leading us to."

"Aw, goddamnit." Marcus waved his hand up.

"Hu?" Mark saw the hand, and started to pull over, just as the front car did as well. "Looks like we got ourselves another pit stop."

"Couldn't wait another second for some fun…" Cole almost sadly disembarked from his beloved new weapon, and got on the ground.

In front, Master Chief leapt out, followed by Howard slowly getting down and Hank climbing over the car to the same side as the Chief. The center warthog had Carey still sitting in it, cleaning his Longshot Sniper. The Last Warthog had everyone climbing out, starting with Eric and Marcus and ending with Baird, who had been treaded on by both Richard and Dom. Accidentally of course.

"You both could use a freaking diet."

"Look whose talking." Baird frowned, and shot down to his gut, seeing if what Dom had said had any truth to the matter.

"What's going on-" Hank started only to be shoved by Eric.

"Do you have any sense of direction!?"

"What- yeah! We're getting close…"

"We passed the main route back about ten minutes ago!"

"We can go around, and take it back if want to take the one most likely to be covered in Locust!"

Eric and Hank continued to argue about directions, having the rest to simply wonder around a bit. Master Chief walked over to a puddle of water. Ripples. The ground was vibrating slightly.

"That's… not good." He ran back for the warthog, catching the others attention. The small radar on the vehicle showed something massive heading their way underground. But by then it was noticeable.

"Back in the Warthogs!" Marcus scrambled for the wheel, just as everyone ran back. Eric now sat in the front with the Chief, and Hank in the back with Marcus.

"Drive!" Eric shouted just as behind the last Warthog, a massive claw of a Corpser shot out, causing Baird to yell in shock, and start shooting at the appendage.

"Eat this Sucka!" Cole turned the Gauss cannon around, and aimed right for the large claw, and fired just as the trio of cars drove away. The impact actually smashed away at a large chunk of the creatures armor, having its still submerged head scream underground.

"Go, go, go!" Howard screamed as he started up the large chain gun mounted on the front Warthog shooting at still emerging legs as the group pulled away.

"Looks like they found us!" Marcus shouted over the radio. "Pucker up!"

"Whoo-yeah!" Cole looked almost happier in his life than anyone had seen him, as he shot down two drones who had stationed themselves up on a roof, and had just about to start shooting down on them. "There ain't enough to stop this man!"

"Drive straight!" Baird was constantly hitting his face against the floor of the back carrying area for them, trying to get a shot of following locust, which now were beginning to flow from behind buildings.

"I'm driving straight; it's just a damn bouncy car!"

"Then drive heavy!"

Ahead, the Chief saw a group of locust that had started to put up a troika turret, and he veered right for them. They saw them coming just in time to get sent flying off in the distance from the force of the impact.

"Good, good! We're heading the right way!" Eric screamed at him, trying to be louder than the gun he was currently firing. "Take another right after this! We'll be getting close to the scouting posts!"

The Chief nodded, and turned the car, having the others behind follow, still shooting out at the many locust that were appearing all over the place.

"Ok, now drive straight-" what could he have said next was interrupted with a large blood-curling scream. "Shit on me…"

"Berserker!" Baird screamed from the far back. "Get the fuck away from me you bitch!"

"Cole-" Mark shouted over his shoulder.

"I can't get a good shot at her!" His shot was mostly blocked out by the behind Warthog, which was now being chased closely by a charging Berserker.

"I got it!" Marcus spotted a thin back-ally, and turned into it, faster than the Berserker could catch up. It was now exposed. And Cole took the advantage.

"Chew on this!" he shot its head, then the chest. It keeled over, a burning section taken out of its body.

"Where'd you guys go?" Mark shouted. He couldn't see where the last warthog had gotten too.

"Turn right here!" Eric again shouted, and the chief complied.

Blocking the entire street ahead, on a large platform, several Boomers stood, staring into space, but at the screeching of the tires, they all turned to the sound, the grenade/rocket launchers raised.

"…Crap." Eric stared as the chief veered to get out of the way. They all fired at once, and the Boomers returned the favor. The back Warthog stopped short of the grenades, but the front took the explosion in the back bumper, having it keel to its side and spin slightly, flipping over and then crashing against a building, flipped over.

"Back! Go Back!" Carey shouted, not able to blast a head off of the Boomers from the angle he was at.

"We aren't leaving them-"

The boomers raised their guns again.

"I might reconsider."

Just as Mark was about to reverse, a loud rumbling was heard, and the third warthog jumped off of the building behind them, flying right for the large locust soldiers. When it made contact, it splattered them across the platform, and smashing the platform in the process, having it splinter and crack as the impact shook the ground slightly.

"sorry for the delay." Marcus drove the warthog around so that it blocked the way they came from, and those who rode in it got out. "We had to take a side rout."

"Right." Mark got out, followed by Carey, who was shaking, a look of anger and fear on his face. He apparently didn't like being in a Warthog. As Cole got down, Marcus got in the Warthog, and started to position it so that it helped block off most of the road they took, acting as a barricade. "What are you doing? We're not done yet."

"They locust will follow us." Baird spoke aloud, looking over the hood of the car. "They won't be long."

"You alright?" The Chief dragged out Eric, who was coughing slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The chief turned around, and went back in the wreckage for Howard. In a moment, he was dragged out, not moving.

"Howard?" Mark came up, looking over his bleeding forehead.

"Concussion."

"Damn… all that," Dom said, looking at the car wreck," just gave him a concussion?"

"There's a reason why I have him on my squad." He stood back up, looking at the almost broken warthog. "He never gives up. Even when dying."

"We're close, about a ten minute walk from here." Eric tried to stand up, only to clutch at his knee. "Fucking ow!"

"Stay still." The Chief pushed him down. "Which way?"

Eric paused, pain etched in his face. "Its…"

"They're coming!" Baird got down from one of the Warthogs, just as the sounds of angry drones filled the area.

"Get ready then." Marcus picked up his gun, and cocked it. "We're gunna kill some locust meat before we die."

He, Dom, Baird, Carey, Mark, Richard, and Cole all ran for the Barricade of Warthogs, and positioned themselves so that they would be able to sweep the street for coming targets. They were outnumbered by at least five to one, but that was the odds all the time.

Then one drone growled, and the approaching Locust paused, look back at him. "Kreeen." The raspy howl was met by more frantic grunts from the others ahead of it.

The Gears looked at the now leaving, or marching… no, running drones as the left the area.

"What are they doing?" Dom had one in his sights, ready to shoot. Behind him, chief, Eric, Hank, and an unconscious Howard all sat, watching as the rest of the gears got on the warthogs to get a better view.

"Why are they leaving?" Mark said, standing next to Baird.

The Blond and usually angry man now looked frightened. "Where are the flares?" he turned around, jumping off the warthog as the others turned.

"What?"

"The Flares! Get them out!" The other Gears got off, except for Carey, who was watching the horizon.

"Look," Richard said, also next to Baird," We've got at least another hour of sunlight left before-" Baird trust a flare into his hands.

"Start looking for a good place to put this." Baird continued to scrimmage for Flares in the Jeeps, as his squad followed. Carey looked in his scope, eyes widening.

"We have one hour of sunlight," he said, tuning to Mark," that is if the clouds from far back were about to cover the sun for us."

"What?!" Mark literally scrambled onto the Warthog, and peered into the scope Carey held out. Far off, past the recently closed hole the locust just fled, clouds were quickly covering the sun. " Oh god." He jumped back down onto the ground. "Screw an hour, we have five minutes until Kryll swarm the air and tear us to shreds."

Master chief motioned for the Strandeds present to watch over Howard. As they did, he walked over to the Warthog that had fallen over, and ripped open a side holder. Inside, seven flares waited for him.

"Here." He tossed to Marcus the Flares, and walked around to the other side to glance for more of the anti-Kryll. Again, seven more waited in a side holder.

"Put them in the open, up high, any place that kryll could get to us! Make a friken bubble of light!" Baird was directing them feverishly, glancing around. "No wait-" he spotted a small crack, and ran for it. Within the crack was a room.

The room was the size of a large living room, enough for ten people to fit comfortably and do whatever they wanted to pass time.

"Put two flares here, and get inside!" The two strandeds carried in Howard as the others followed him. Baird stayed behind, glancing around at the sky, and then to the sun. It had only a small sliver of light left. So, in a last idea, he laid two more flares by each warthog, in case of needed quick escape.

And as he ran for the crack, which two flares had been placed outside of it, the sunlight fell and an eerie silence washed over them. "…Cavity." He cracked one flare, and tossed it into the dark blue sky, just as millions of Kryll soared into the air, chirping and giving off that strange sound they made. He quickly ran inside.

The room was filled with light. Seven Flares had been laid down on former plant holders to provide the most amount of light they could.

"Nice thinking Baird." Richard gave him credit.

"Yeah," Dom said, a joke causing his lips to curl," you're not as dumb as you look."

"Next time I'll leave you in the dark then." Baird took a seat on a couch, just as the others also sat. "What's next is we wait."

"For…" Mark poked at this words.

"Well, the flares could run out. Locust could attack. Kryll could risk life and limb to eat us and swarm in here. Or we can try to get the car back up and moving in twenty minutes when Kryll get that if they come too close, they will die. So, we have options." Baird licked at a tear in the couch as he said this.

"No, we have one. We're waiting for them to start leaving the area alone then we're moving." Marcus sat on the opposite couch, and started checking off things on his gun. The others followed suit, and started to do various things as the Kryll outside swarmed around.

The next third of an hour dragged on without much happening. Occasionally, the sound of a gunshot would reach them through the walls and Kryll, only hinting how close they were to allies, or how close Locust were to them. They sat, looking over their weapons, their minor wounds, or whatever it was they had.

At some point Howard also awoke, saying he had a throbbing headache. He quickly followed the same sadly quiet mood the others had, just letting himself rest for a while. Finally, Baird got up, and checked the crack in the wall. "Looks clear."

"Good, go see for yourself then." Baird growled, and headed outside, his gun raised. Marcus got up, and walked after him. "Well?"

"Clear, we should get ready."

The others slowly got back up, and headed for the crack within the wall. Outside, the dark embrace of night had already grasped the city. The flares were beginning to die, and the Warthogs still stayed motionless.

"Lets get to work on them." Marcus walked over, and attempted to push the still flipped over warthog back up, finding it extremely heavy despite its bouncy nature. Then the chief used one hand and flipped it back.

"How…"

The Green Armored man shrugged.

Then lights flashed in all directions.

"AH!"

"Tune it down Spartan!"

"It's not me" The Chief saw, since the visor cut out much of the light flooding the area, that people had snuck onto of the buildings, each armed with a particular weapon.

"Chief- they look like the Strandeds." Cortana said, also able to examine each one through his sensory system.

"Cogs…" A man growled in a very deep and rough voice, matching Marcus's. "Lower the lights!"

The Gears looked up to see many guns pointed down at them, each being held by a stranded. Marcus motioned for the weapons to be lowered, and the squads lowered the guns. The stranded did not.

"Well, well… what have we got here? Some Fascist piggys got lost on their way back to the farm? He he he…"

* * *

He he he indeed! Another cliffhanger is needed! So yeah, what you guys think? 

I fortunately have the next three chapters perfectly planned out, then I'm going to have to take another break. Anyway, I'm watching this cool movie…

(clicks off Microsoft Word to watch the Ring)

Scary…

(evil Well girl stretches hand out of the monitor and grabs his head)

AHHH!! (gets sucked into the screen)

Evil Girl: Seven Days.


	14. Negotiations with Hooligans

"So… eight Cogs. Two kids, and a big green robot. What a catch this is." The large bald man spat next to him, nearly missing the armed stranded next to him. The man's reaction t the spit landing on his foot was restrained anger.

"Great. Strandeds, just what we were looking for." Marcus peered through the bright lights shinning in his eyes. About twenty well armed Strandeds surrounded the group, all on the roofs.

"You Cogs sure know how to make a racket." The Bald man walked over to a mostly intact set of metal stairs, and started to climb down. "We were wondering what… the noise was. Turns out to be… those, right?" he pointed to the three warthogs.

"Yeah, we got a lucky ride, or we would have been Kryll food." Dom spoke back, confidently as he could and loudly.

"That's too bad. If the Kryll had eaten you, then we would have gotten these neat little things. They look really useful." The man jumped the last set, landing in the light.

He had a scarred face, one in particular stretching his entire cheek bone. He was tall, and medium built, giving him a better appearance as a bandit found on the side of a road. He wore what looked like a broken Cog vest, torn diagonally, and spray painted with an inverted triangle on top of the classic 'Gears Skull'.

"Now the question is, what to do with you." He walked right up to Marcus, getting in his face, attempting to provoke the experienced soldier. "Eight Gears." He glanced to the other Strandeds. "Two Brats." And he walked up to the chief. His wide steps came to a halt in the absolute sight of the Master Chief. "And whatever you are, robot-man."

The chief didn't say a thing.

"We were looking for you." Marcus stated as plainly as he could, not wanting to start anything up with them surrounded with guns. "We needed a place to rest, or hide."

"Well boys, maybe we could invite them all for dinner." He said up to the many armed soldiers up on the roofs. "Or… maybe have a game of Thrashball. What you say," he walked up to Cole," right, Cole-_Brain_?"

Cole went right for him, and Baird and Mark both restrained him.

"Punk, I'll knock you out!"

"Cole!"

"Hey man!" Baird slapped his shoulder, glancing up at the men on the roof, who had aimed with the rifles at them. "Kick his ass another day." Cole shrugged them off, and stepped back, nodding murderously at the bald man.

"We aren't looking for trouble!" Mark said, as forcefully as he could.

"What _you_ say, kid?"

The Bald man had now picked up with Eric and Hank. Hank made short work of pushing Eric forward, separating himself from the bald man.

"What do I say?"

"What, are you def?" The Bald man got closer, breathing the same space as the young stranded, who stood his ground. "Did you say something yet?"

"Sorry." He 'ahem'ed. "Single-Star, six-six-four-nine."

The Bald man blinked. "What?" then he slowly backed away. "Well, well… we got a resident of Rexington. What a surprise." He again turned back to the kid, as he had been addressing the men on the roof.

"It's Eric."

"What?"

"What, are you def?" he stepped up to the bald man. "My name is Eric. Eric of El Mercado."

"Oh… shit."

"Oh shit is right, Gary 'Tough-time'." Eric now walked past him, looking up at the many soldiers. "I think you should lower your weapons, considering who you're pointing them at." And to the surprise of the Gears, the many Armed Strandeds slowly did, looking cautious.

"Eric, what-" Marcus started.

"I'm the son of the Leader of Rexington." He turned back to the others. "It's our home's name. Rexingotn is out City. And my family… well we lead it's military force."

"You said that-" Cortana started, but again was interrupted by Eric.

"Yeah, my real parents died. I was adopted by those who my real family were trying to help. So, im sorta an orphan."

"An annoying piece of shit." Eric turned back to the bald man, Gary.

"What?"

"What makes you think," he started to walk past him," that anyone here gives a SHIT about your status? In fact," he scratched his shiny head," I think we found you all here, killed by Kryll. Or, better yet," he motioned the guns to be positioned on the group," Locust shot you all dead."

"Really?" Eric and the bald Gary were locked in eye contact.

"This is getting no where." Dom stepped forward. "we'll trade you these," he pat one of the warthogs," for passage to your town."

"What?" Gary broke his eye contact. "Those?"

"They're in good condition, they have nice weapons to use, they're fast, and more sturdy than you might think. This one," Dom kicked at the bumper," was hit by a Boomshot."

"You don't say…" he turned around thinking.

Marcus crept up to him, looking at the others. "What are you doing? We need those."

"Not if they can get us into the town, we won't. It's simple trade for Stranded standards." Dom still watched the bald man think.

"You think we can trust these-"

"Strandeds may be assholes," Dom glanced back at the bald man, still thinking to himself," but they have certain principles. A deal is a deal."

"That doesn't mean much." Marcus glanced again at the Strandeds.

"To you and me, a promise has extra meaning, it enhances itself." Dom's eyes scoured each Stranded up on the rooftops. "But to them, words and promises have gotten them nothing, but deals have. A deal to them is as real as locust are to you."

"Scary thought."

"Fine, deal." The bald man turned around, facing them. "We get these, and you get a pass to Rexington. After that, your little friend here had better take care of you."

He motioned them to follow, jumping up to the broken metal stairwell that he had come down minutes ago.

"Wait, so you've been part of an important group in Stranded-city," Baird said, rounding on the kid," and you never felt that you should tell us?"

"I've… actually, we-"he pointed at Hank," Were avoiding the city center."

"Why? Safer is better right?" Dom passed them both, trying to follow the bald man.

"I've been avoiding my parents for a while. And it's hard to do that when they literally control everything in the area that uses guns." He looked slightly depressed, even though he had led them back to 'safety'.

"And, you wanted to come in, riding a white horse, not walk in with guards on either side." Mark also walked past Baird and Eric, waiting for Cole to get up. "Sounds typical really."

"And that little code-" Baird started again.

"Each way in is guarded, and they have a constantly changing password. We're lucky really, it changes tomorrow."

"Does this also explain why you can shoot well?"

Eric considered for a moment. "Nah, I just like fighting… like a Cog."

"You've got some surprises there." Marcus also walked past, followed by the chief, who nodded respectfully at Eric.

"Don't we all." Baird said, after him.

The walk to the 'city' was one of tension. The Gears, being led by well armed Strandeds was bad enough, but the threat of lights going out seemed to haunt every step. Locust also seemed to follow, or the group scouts seemed paranoid. Every turn, they would pause, and perform a dramatic check of the area, looking through every lit area.

The street they had moved on to was similar to that one Delta squad had moved on once, with lights hanging off of wires, flooding the area with light. Rather than decorations however, they were simple lamps and other things tied to a power line, stretched tightly across the street.

"You guys could use some pizzazz." Richard jokingly said as they walked under the simple lights.

"You could use a brain." Retorted the headman, not bothering to turn to the sound of Richards voice. "We don't have the luxury of nice looking things, just those that work!"

"You must get it from the people you kill." Richard retorted.

"Survival of the fittest, pal. You rank in that survival a 'D'."

Richard growled as darkly as he could, mumbling about giving him his own grade past that of the alphabet.

The walk steadily grew away from the dangers that were associated with Locust. Kryll stayed constant as they still soared just above the light, but the dangers of non-human attack were practically gone.

And after what could have been hours, they arrived at a cross section of a former large road. Following the leaders turn to the right, a huge, rugged gate formed of sections of metal plating, car parts, large signs, and other scraps of other things all stood in their way. On top of the gate, two Troika mounted turrets stood, their gunners watching the approach of the group.

"Single-Star, six-six-four-nine." Gary shouted up to them, and one member on the large gate waved another to the side. After a short pause, a motor started up somewhere, and the gates started to creep back and aside.

"What you got there Gary? Looks like spoiled meat!" two other Strandeds laughed at the 'head' gate master's inquiry.

"Oh, I got something special in this mess." He reached back, and rentched up Eric, who almost tripped by the forceful grip.

"Hey!"

"Eric, of El Mercado, was hanging out with Gears!"

The Gate master shook his head disapprovingly, and moved away from the division that now had the gates separated. As he did, he waved them in.

"Looks like we're safe." Mark said, glancing in the gates.

"Sort of." Marcus recalled the reaction Strandeds had when he last met some a few days ago, and that was only because Dom had a deal struck with his pal. Now, they had a deal with cars again, only they were loaning, and Marcus knew all to well that Strandeds took what they could and left anyone they could behind, saving their own sorry asses instead.

"Welcome," Gary said, looking back at the group," To Rexington, Cogs."

* * *

(Falls out of computer screen, with the evil girl giving EZB the middle finger in anger)

Man! Never can take a joke about the undead... anyway-

I am soo glad I got that chapter off my chest. And yes, I realize how small it is. But the truth is, I couldn't fit anything in THIS chapter that would stick with its own little plot. Its mostly dialogue and some walking, but with lots of tension. So, I guess that makes it all up.

(knock on the Door)

Who… is it? (opens door, finding a horde of one hundred zombies in the hallway outside of his room)

Zombies: Guuuuuh Groan urrah!! (Translation: Hello! We would like you to consider joining the undead ranks as a zombie so you can write horror related material for us.)

By the tight abs of Nebulous! (Pulls out a shotgun, and wastes three zombies in front of him)

Zombie: Grah! (Translation: Dude, what the fuck!?)

Get away from my stuff! (again blasts three more zombies)

Zombies: Heerrraaaa…. (translation: ok, that's it, GET HIM!!)

(gets pulled into Zombie hoard) AAHHH! No! I can't write zombie stories! I needed a pause in The Hellsing War anyway! NOOOO!!

(blood splatters on the laptop.)


	15. Rexington Tension

The Gears followed their armed 'escort' through the second large group of strandeds they had come across in a while. This group of Strandeds truly disserved the title 'City'. Even at night, the small streets were crowded with the inhabitants. Hundreds walked through light drenched streets, passing by one another to get to where it was they needed to go. It would be surprising to think that any group of people would have such a need, but the actual city size was large enough to facilitate ten thousand people in the small area. Even though it was a 'city within a city', they still thought of themselves an independent section. At it seemed a normal night.

Then an armed escort group led by Patrol Head Gary "tough-time" passed. What had the street occupants step aside were those being led. A group of Gears, two Strandeds, and something they had never seen before.

"This is even more uncomfortable than the other stranded place we landed at." Baird was watching the sides as many not only moved aside completely but left the street in fear. Some watched the Armed Strandeds lead the way, nodding satisfied as Cogs were being directed by them.

"It will… just be… hu…" Mark couldn't find anything to say that sounded positive.

"We'll be fine." Master Chief said clearly behind him, having the others glance around in the feel of the conversation.

Marcus too had worries. What kind of deal was this? They had given up their transportation for passage into an unfriendly territory. They were armed, but were obviously overpowered; almost every direction there was an armed guard or scout posted somewhere.

"Strandeds keep deals." Dom repeated at the front. "They know what they've gotten for just this passage."

"What?" Marcus glanced past a small shop building, as the owner closed the metal grating.

"These guys will be able to take fast scouts further than they could possibly before. This kind of bargain doesn't come up in a while for them."

"Still don't like the sound of it."

"Hey! No lagging!" The Bald leader had noticed the Cogs conversation. "Unless you'd rather stay."

The others had little to say as the continued down the now clearing streets. It was more than obvious that they were not exactly 'welcome' in the city. As they passed people, looks of fear, anger, confusion, and in one case, satisfaction that they were being led by the scouts constantly flew their way. They still walked one, just with anxious nerves.

"Cole, you think-"

"Naw man. These people don't even look at me." Cole was not in his happy mood as he had been before, or the last time he had encountered Strandeds. Either it was because he was in a different situation than last time.

"At least we don't have to eat their crap." Baird glanced at a shop that had closed a second before he had spoke, selling well cooked food from large rats to birds.

"Looks tasty." Howard groaned sarcastically. As he returned his stares forward, he spotted a wooden bridge connecting two buildings from either side of the street to another. On the bridge, several well armed gunmen watched their progress down the street. "At least they have

"These guys look filthy." Richard glanced to a crowd that had started to follow behind them.

"Leave them alone and they might leave us be… for now." Dom had also noticed the small group of teens walking behind them, lead by a long haired punk. He seemed to be enjoying the show of them being moved by Gary.

"Oh no… Jonas." Eric whispered, as he had also seen the man, who seemed to be just a little older than he was, following them.

"You know him?" Marcus asked as he some awkwardness in the accompanying Strandeds words.

"More or less." Eric of all people now was scared. His eyes shone with anticipation at the small group behind him, and as they saw now, each one carried a small pistol holster with an appropriately sized pistol. "Just what I was hoping to avoid."

"What?"

"Nothing chief."

The chief, who of all people had responded, now looked ahead, to a narrow path between two somewhat intact buildings. They filed in after the armed guard, giving the chief, Cole and Howard just enough space to squeeze through. As soon as they reached the other side, they entered a sealed off court, with a relatively large gate as its only way out, beside the small passage. Guards surrounded the area, as they also were on the ledge above the court.

They were somewhere important.

"Wait here." Gary walked to a side door which had opened on their arrival. "Try anything and they will put a bullet in your head." He, along with the guards that had walked with them now left the cog group alone in the court.

"Well. That was easy." Marcus glanced around, analyzing each guard as his eyes met their guns. "This should be easy."

"At least no one started anything." Eric looked around nervously.

"Kid, what's-"

"So, this is where you where hiding?! With a bunch of snot-faced, inbred fascists?!"

From a dark corner to the side, the same man, just a little older than Eric walked forward, to the addressed stranded. Black hair billowing, and several metal chains glinting from around his neck, he was indeed a punk.

"And look, you took Frank with you."

"Jonas. What do you want?" The younger looking stranded addressed the approaching taller one. His tones were even, however his hands shook with intimidation.

"Dad's been worried. I haven't though. You gone and is been a lot better looking place, ya know?"

"Dad?" Dom looked between the two now."

"Jonas… is my brother." Eric said slowly, an almost ashamed feeling in the voice he used.

"Big bro. That's me, smart guy. Now, who are you guys- oh, look you don't have any guns…" Jonas walked up to Marcus, pulling out a flare still kept in ine pocket. "Where'd you get these from, eh?"

"Put that back."

"Or what?" Jonas waved the flare in front of the experienced soldiers face, taunting him. "You'll fight me? Who here has more guns- you, me, or the guards who listen to what I say?"

"Jonas-" eric pleaded

"Shut the fuck up. You don't have any rights to talk to me, got it!?" Jonas suddenly snapped at him. "besides… I've been rally bored." And without warning, who whipped out his gun, and pointed it against Marcus's head. The others in the group started, but did'nt move beside from that.

"That's right, don't move, or he dies…"

"What are you doing?" Marcus said calmly, looking right at the young man in front of him.

"What, you aren't frightened?" the kid sneered back. "I guess it's good to die-"

"They gave us three ca-"

"SHUT UP!" Jonas back-slapped Eric across the face, having him spiral back and then fall on the floor. "You will shut-the-fuck-up or you will join them." He then glanced to the other gears present, including Frank. "Gears have no right to even be near by us, let alone in my our city- MY city."

"Jo-jonas-" Frank started.

"Get OUT!"

Frank took the opportunity, and with a apologetic glanced to Eric, ran through the back exit.

"Jonas-"

"Now, I guess I just have to decide how to kill you…" he lowered the pistol to Marcus's chest, still glaring deep into his eyes. "What will it be-"

"Stop."

All eyes flashed to the Chief, who had turned finally to the long haired punk.

"What? Did you just say-"

"I can' have you hurt them. They are human, just like you. Stop, or-"

"Yeah?! Or what?"

Master Chief started again. "Or I may have to hurt you to save their life."

The punk-stranded stared at him, along with the many others in the same space.

"Shut up." He flashed his pistol to the visor of the helmet, and fired once. The bullet hit the personal shield in a flash of energy, and bounced away, bouncing off two other objects until it came to a stop on the ground. The others had been keeping their heads down as the bullet raced around.

"Warned you." Master Chief darted several feet instantly, whipped the gun out of the punks hand, and lightly punching him in the gut, knocking out his wind. As he did, he heard the guns of the other guard raise, and he whirled around, shooting one bullet at each, knocking their guns out of their hands.

Master Chief had, with one pistol, disarmed an entire area of Guards without hurting anyone, or even without trying.

"…whoa…" Eric had barley seen what had happened, but still saw the results.

"That was easy." Master chief tossed the gun to the ground, and walked over to the gate as if nothing had happened, passing over the heaving Jonas who was still on the ground.

"Chief?"

"They should be opening it soon."

"Hey… Sparta- chief."

Master Chief turned to the gears, who all had a different face of shock or surprise.

"That was pretty sweet accuracy." Marcus nodded in satisfaction, also shooting deadly looks at the grounded man. "Not sure you should'a saved this one though."

"I- uh… could have pulled that off if I wanted to." Baird shook his head too, however for different reasons.

"Shut up."

As if opening the those words, the gates began to open. Slowly rising up as a whole wall, several figures squeezed underneath, including the bald Gary, two guards, and a man they had yet seen, tall with light brown hair in his late thirties.

"What is going on here?" The brown haired man stated, looking between the many unarmed guards rubbing their hands and Jonas still lying on the ground with his blue eyes.

"Dad!"

Eric greeted his father after being gone for almost two weeks.

* * *

(zombies groan at door, until one particular zombie walks in, and closes the door behind him. He walks to the computer, and begins to type.)

Graaaah guh hrrre. (translation: that was annoying. Sorry about that guys. I'll now continue with the stuff.)

(Types several keys on keyboard, only to have left arm fall off.)

Shuu. (Translation: shit.)

Graaa grea huuuuuuuu (translation: well, I guess I can write those zombie related stories because I'm a zombie.)

(Shotgun blast through a window, blowing the zombie EZB's head off, as Alive EZB climbs through the blasted through window with a shotgun.)

Taste my apples, beyatch! (cleans off blood from the seat, and sits down, starting to type) so, I'm back and sorry for the delay. Aside form zombies outside, there were 6 plays to finish up, and then break separated me from my comp (I was in L.A.)

Yeah, I know it's a annoying cliffhanger, but I still got crap to do (yeah, even on break… so annoying like finding a NEW job) but don't worry, when next chapter comes, lotsa more info shall arrive aside with it.

I also apologize for such a SHORT chapter. I feel sick. Sorry, my bad (taps his finger) But I'm not dead! So rejoice!

(banging at the door)

… Well, I guess this only leaves me one option. (Reaches in pocket, just as huge and sinister words flash across the screen displaying the words "To Be Contiuned".)


	16. Father's Power

"Dad."

"Eric."

The father ran to him, passing the guards who had come with him. As soon as he reached the younger man, he started several awkward motions, making gestures to hug, scold, yell, and shake hand.

"Where… have… who are they?"

"Gears, sir." Gary said with more of a flat voice than the others had heard the entire evening.

"Really? Thanks for that news, Gary." The father said with harsh sarcasm. His eyes then flashed to the boy still holding his gut, while lying on his ground. "Why is my son on the ground?"

"Dad, he was provoking them!"

"So, you hurt my son?" The Father walked quickly to Marcus, and for the first time, Marcus's steadfast and confident attitude wavered. The man's eyes burned, for a single instant, with rage Marcus knew that was hard to ease.

"No. I did." Master Chief nodded his head, and pointed to the gun near by. As the father turned around (being that he had passed the chief) he gave a double take at seeing the green man, and then walked step by step to him.

"As much as I think he may deserve to get his ass kicked from time to time, I would like a damn good reason why you would harm anyone in my town. Now."

"He thinks his son should get his… ass kicked?" Cortana whispered gently to Master Chief as the green giant thought. "That kid must be more of a pain than I thought."

"He held the gun to these soldiers. I warned him not to do that, and he shot."

"Also at the guards?"

Master chief, along with the gears also glanced up to the guards above, who had just began to pick up the weapons shot out of their arms.

"They might have attacked. I disarmed them as a precaution."

"I see…" The older man still seemed unconvinced.

"Dad, he's honest. I mean, he barely talks at all, and when he does, it's honest!" The father looked to the younger of his two sons, then to the gears; still looking awkward in the large bulky armor, surrounded by Strandeds.

"Did you bring them here?" he said, not looking at his son, observing each individual soldier.

"We picked them up, along with your son and a friend of his," Gary stated behind him, still in flat tones," nearby outpost thirteen. They had been attacked by locust, and had several flares keeping kryll away."

"Is that so... So, you let several Gears in, along with my son… for what?"

"For- nothing." Gary adjusted his pitch masterfully. "I let them in because I thought they should have protection."

"What?"

"Bullshit!" Baird pushed past the others, having both the father and Gary turn to him, and the many guards raise their guns to him. "We got ambushed by you guys, and we were lucky enough to have some things to give or you would have wasted us all on the spot, including-"

"Quiet." The father, simply raising a hand, seemed able to silence Baird, which as Delta squad knew, this was quite an accomplishment without sounding deadly, or physical use. "Gary, are you saying that you let them have protection without any sort of price?"

"I thought-"

"Dad, Baird's telling the truth!" Eric stepped forward, siding with the other blond. "We took three cars called 'warthogs' to that area, and Gary wouldn't let us come unless we gave him those-"

"Enough!"

Eric immediately fell silent, the urgency on his face vanishing into a set face of bashfulness.

"How many." The older man said, indicating it to Gary.

"Sir?"

"How many cars did they give us, for passage?"

"uhhh…" Jonas had finally got to his feet, but still swayed around. "Dad?"

"It is about time you got back up, Jonas. Starting fights again?" The long haired son seemed dazed, then his eyes flashed and his face contorted with anger, possibly from the memory of the green armored man almost knocking him out.

"They- he- they-"

"Don't hurt yourself trying to saw something." The father turned away, and fully faced Gary, his eyes full of growing impatience. His son behind him grew redder and redder. "What did they give for passage?"

"Hey." Dom stepped forward, his voice very level and calm. "Are you El Mercado?"

The father turned around, his eyes widened slightly by the approach. "My 'known name', yeah. just call me Ben."

"Ben?" Richard said, confused by the sudden name switch. "That doesn't sound very Hispanic!"

"Who said anything about me being Hispanic? I just like the name." Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose, now seeing how Eric and his father were very alike; very odd, but not disturbing. Despite Eric being an 'orphan', he was sure they might be related.

"'Kay, Ben. We gave you guys three Warthogs- small combat vehicles, maximum speed of one-seventy mph, each with its own customized weaponry: machine turret, gauss gun, and extra passenger carrier. All we asked was passage in." Dom said this all as paced and calmly as he could, avoiding any other interruptions. The Father, or Ben as he called himself now, had been thinking, rubbing his hand through his hair.

"Is this so…"

"Dad-" Ben turned away form Eric and the others, walking to Gary. As soon as he reached him, he stared at the balding man's face, firm disbelief in his easy.

"S-sir?"

"You really are a jerk." Ben flicked his nose hard, having Gary jump suddenly, stepping back away from him.

"What the fuck- what was that for??"

"We just got not one, but THREE god damn vehicles, all armed and loaded, and they, in return, asked for passage. So, you 'march' them through the city on display, and all this for three!?"

"S-sir? But they're-"

"You might want to go and apologize. Or hell, go offer them your home for the night for what they gave us." The Gears, or Marcus in particular, watched this scene with interest. They had been ripped off, but the leader of these guys was pissed at that?

"They are gears." Gary said quietly.

"For three cars, that's fifteen nights. You took that deal, and tossed them around like trash!?"

"DAD!" Jonas had gotten back up, and ran for his father. "They're gears! They left us behind to rot and didn't care as they burnt our homes to the ground!"

"I like what your son is saying. They don't belong here, and I would never accept them as allies, sir-"

"I frankly don't give a shit about what you accept now; not after you spat on this cities reputation as fair traders. Nor do I care," Ben turned to his older son," about what happened seventeen years ago. The past is the past- and all I care about is surviving in the now. If that means we have to bargain with Gears, so be it."

The silence that fell was final. No others would dare to argue with him, not even his own son.

"Now, open the gates a tad further so they can stay here until they need to leave." Ben said finally, and walked away from Gary, leaving him standing there, looking more timid than they had yet seen him, and Jonas to run under the gate, growling something to himself. "Which one of you is the higher rank?"

Marcus, Mark, and Master chief all walked up. And after seeing the tallest, Mark and Marcus glanced at each other, and in unison, pointed to him, and said," He is."

"right. What's your name, big guy?"

"Master Chief, Spartan 117."

"Sounds like a rank, or in your case, a designation." Ben looked back at the visor, peering thoughtfully. "Any name?"

Master chief paused, unsure about his answer. "John."

"John? Just John?" The Green giant nodded again.

"What about you two?" he pointed to Marcus and Mark. As he did, Mark quickly stepped to the side, clapped his hands in 'prayer like' style, and nodded to Marcus.

"You go ahead."

Marcus, after watching this odd behavior, stared back into Ben's face. "I'm Sergeant Fenix of Delta Squad, and this-" he again looked at Mark, who gave him the 'thumbs up' sign," is Sergeant Agron of Alpha squad."

"Well… I bet you heard this before Sergeants, Master Chief, but welcome to Rexington, or in this particular area, the Castillo." Ben turned away, Eric close behind him, as they walked under he fully raised gates. The Gears, after all acknowledging that this was an invitation to follow, started after them.

Past the gate was a large courtyard, or former parking lot, as the yellow paint still remained present, labeling areas to park. Several vehicles sat stationary around these yellow lines, praising the former authority they gave.

Past the walled area was a larger building, similar to a shopping mall, but more of an office building. Atop were several light blue lights, which kept the kryll away. Along sides of the walls were similar lights, each keeping the smaller kryll hoards away. And the group also noticed that the large swarms seemed smaller than average, apperantly due to lack of available places to eat things.

"So, tell me: what brings you to my city?"

"Long Story." Master Chief stated simply, giving Marcus the time to now explain.

"He's the story, really." Marcus indicated the tall figure behind Ben. "This morning, we had a huge object fall on this planet, and we were sent to find out what it was, and found him along the way. Just so happened that he was a resident of that particular ship, and he got us those cars."

"He and Cortana." Mark added.

"Cortana?"

"That would be me." Cortana said through the speakers on Master Chief, having Ben turn sharply to make sure what he heard was right.

"Neat. A dual personality robot."

"He's not a robot- oh forget it." Cortana said exasperatedly.

"We needed a place to get away from the Kryll, just for a night." Dom started. "The Chief was smart enough to look up wherever Eric and Frank came from, and that led us here."

"So, you all just need a nights rest, then you leave?"

"Sure."

Ben pushed open another door, not quite as large as the gate, but large enough to be impressive. Inside, a shabby, but not run down room the size of a small home awaited, with many dirty but intact furniture.

"This is the main room of my home. You all may stay here for however long you want- that is expect two weeks. After that, you leave, cool?"

"We only need one night." Marcus told the leader of the city as he glanced around the room. To either sides of the room, many boarded up doorways that must have led to other sections of the building sat, dusty and shored. A tall, spiral staircase led to a higher level above with glass railing for a thin barrier. Next to that stair, two elevators still sat, unbarred. One short table, a car in length sat between the many furniture.

So, we're just hangin' out here?" Cole almost jumped on the huge couch, having it squeak slightly in his massive weight. "Sounds cool dawg."

"Sergeant Fenix, please come with me."

Marcus glanced over to the elevator, where Ben had walked over. Eric had taken the stairs up, and was watching the floor below, placing both arms on the hand railing, and slacking down as he watched. "Sure."

He passed the others, who had just began to remove what armor they had on, expect for Master Chief, who had stayed by the large open door. Finally, as he reached the leader, the elevator opened, and Ben beckoned him in.

"We have to talk."

Marcus stepped in, followed by the father, and the doors closed.

"Great. Where are they going? Baird growled, looking at where they had been a moment before.

"Hey chief, don't you need any sleep?" Richard said, seeing the still standing man.

"No."

"Do you even ever sleep?"

"Do you think, with his lack of speech," Cortana said sarcastically," that he gets much sleep?"

"Hey chief, guys." Eric said from the floor above," if you want a better view than a large door, come up."

Mark, Richard, Dom, and Howard glanced to each other, and walked for the Stairs. As the ascended, they all realized that the wall the large doors sat in where actually additions to the building, blocking out huge windows above it, acting as a firm shield to the building. Master Chief followed.

"That's Rexington at night. Full of fear." Eric still stood, his eyes lazily looking out, at the lights strewn across the area in front of the windows. A city, larger than they had thought, stretched out for miles, checkering the dead cities that still stood on the planets surface. It was, at least visibly, in the shape of half a sphere.

"Looks more like people trying to live their lives." Dom said, also lying slightly on the railing. "Just how many people live here?"

"Twenty thousand… fifty thousand… I don't know. Dad only knows that its enough that we can be self-sustaining for another few years though."

"How old is Ben anyway? I mean, he's your dad, and he looks like he's our age-"

"He's forty nine."

The others around Eric all looked to him.

"What? His hair line got lucky."

"And it looks like the clouds are passing already." Dom said as the only objects in the sky, the stars, became evident. However, the stars that night had a visitor. Although the entire planet's inhabitants could not see it with their eyes, a special anomaly had taken residence in the area.

Well, several knew. A small group of top-secret government officials who saw the craft as soon as it appeared, and then a single A.I. knew that there was something invisible in the sky that should not have been there.

"Looks like I'm stuck here for a while." Master Chief said to himself, and Cortana.

"Perhaps." Was all she could respond with.

* * *

(Reaches into pocket, and withdraws a cellphone) Ok, so lets see… who knows how to kill zombies on mass-gathering?... Antonio Banderas? No…

(clicks cell phone) Mark Hamill? Nah…

(clicks cell phone again) Johnny Depp? Nope.

(clicks again, then sighs) …You. (selects, and holds phone to head.)

Cell Phone Voice: Hallo?

Hello, Mr. Schwarzenegger?

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Yah hallo? Who is this?

Hey, this is EZB. I got around five hundred zombies outside my door, and I was wondering-

Arnold Schwarzenegger: If I knew haw to get rid of tham, bhwa bhwa bhwa.

Yeah… so do you?

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Do you have anough ammo for tham all?

No…

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Do you have… A CHOPPAH!?

(holds phone away form volume) no!

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Wall, than I can't halp you, EZB. I'm soorry, but it looks like… you are going _to be terminated!!_

(cell phone beeps, dial tone)

Oh that helps.

Mysterious, _sinister_, **deep** _**voice**_ from other side of room: Perhaps I can help you, EZB.

Fuck'n A! Who's there- (turns, and eyes go wide as zombies still groan outside)

You?

(A man in Red Trench coat, black suit, black biker boots, very wide red hat, and yellow/orange tinted glasses walks into the light) It's been a long time EZB. (laughs evily)

(2BCont'!!)

* * *

Oh, and on a more 'official' note, the reason this came out so quickly, is because I think you guys deserve it. I made you all wait for it, so I put my full efforts into this one chapter for a good few hours, and I got it out. So next chapter should come on next Friday to… oh next Sunday.

Once again, thanks again for being so patient!!


	17. Plea of the King

The sky was black, and if it wasn't dark enough, the occasional flurry of a swarm of Kryll added to the deadly look. Around the roof of the tall building, the city of Strandeds stretched on for what could be miles, lights still flickering, even though the hour was close to midnight. Around the lit streets were the darker outlines of an abandoned city, only used in warfare. This area was Rexington.

A small 'ding' by an elevator exit signaled the arrival of two men. The Rexington Leader and Gear Sergeant. Ben walked out into the dim blue light, which kept the swarming bat-like creatures away, at least by hundreds of meters.

"Who would have though that Gears would ask Stranded's for aid, right?" Ben stated as he walked to the side of the building to a metal grate fence, blocking off the high drop from the roof.

"It's not that uncommon actually." Marcus walked slightly behind him, taking in the view of the city that the man in front of him apparently ruled.

"Ha, I don't doubt it." They both stared at the city for a moment. "I bet… you're wondering how it is I got this 'position'. A stranded leader," he turned to face Marcus, his brown hair dancing in a short breeze that gust by them," sounds pretty odd, right?"

"The thought did cross me." The experienced Sergeant did find it odd. In any case, Strandeds didn't like authority, and in any case, this man did not seem to feel like the absolute power of this town.

"Well… I guess I can tell you a story. The Birth of Rexington."

"Is this what you wanted to tell me-"

"We'll get to that." Marcus corrected his thoughts. He definitely sounded more like a politician as he spoke. "About sixteen years ago, we had a good sized group of survivors. About one hundred I think. And the assigned 'heads' of the group all knew that we would have to survive on our own. Gears had left us to fight the war against Locust."

Marcus watched, as he talked. The man's eyes had glazed over slightly, as he probably remembered the event as it happened.

"so, we decided to take the area as a town. Try to make it self sustaining. So, we had five leaders take particular heads of what had to be done. Defense, currency- yes, currency- supplies, shelter, and attack force."

"You were one of the heads?"

"I was the defense, yeah. But that didn't last long. Locust kept attacking us and one by one they all died, all of the other leaders. But by then, our group numbers had attracted others to our group, and our numbers jumped from one hundred to five hundred in one year."

"Sounds like a growing town."

"I was left with all five things to do, and two sons to raise. So, to slightly stem the flow of people, I initiated a policy for entering and protection of from this town."

"Was that what you were talking about earlier?" Marcus recalled the time where Ben accused Gary of 'spitting on the towns reputation'. "You have a way of settling deals?"

"In a way, yes. In order to get in this town, you have to offer us something in return. Depending on how generous your proposal, you will get certain benefits and gains. Someone who offers vehicles for safe passage will get a better deal than one who offers service as a fighter."

"But we gave you three-"

"Yes, and as much as I would love to have you all stay and add to out protection, you are Gears and my people have a hard time accepting that you are still human!" Ben said in a rushed response. "You probably know that Gears and Strandeds only stick together for survival. But Strandeds will never trust gears."

"Never? You can't just tell them-"

"No. They need proof, or something that tells them in their hearts that Gears can be trusted again." He fully faced Marcus now, with a glint of pleading in his eyes. "There is a reason why I brought you up here."

"What? You've told me several stories, so what's the deal?" Marcus was getting impacient, and tired. Something that never mixed well.

"Sergeant Fenix, my town's supplies are beginning to dry up. We can sustain ourselves for a few more months, but after that people will begin to noticed our supplies are growing thin." Ben shook his head, and stared back out across the city. "This town- my town- is one of the last remaining bastions outside of Jacinto Plateau that can withstand serious Locust attack. And people know that, many more now are starting to herd to this city."

"So? What do you want me to do?"

The Father, leader, and desperate man stared at the ground, a good two hundred feet down, thinking. "I want Gears Support."

Marcus almost choked on air after hearing this. "What?"

"Gears- cogs- the army- whatever you want to be known as. You all have supplies enough to support the rest of the human population on the plateau! Can't you give your leaders my request for aid? I'm sure after hearing that so many people will starve that they-"

"I can't do that."

"What?!" Ben, who fully faced him yet was shocked. "Why? Because we're-"

"It's got nothing to do with the fact that you are Strandeds. It's because giving that many supplies over such a distance would seem stupid to my superiors." Marcus envisioned a response from Hoffman, laughing harshly at a plea for aid from a huge number of Strandeds.

"We're helping you! We- how…" Ben walked over to the center of te roof, looking into the sky. "How can you simply ignore us?!"

"What?"

"We have," Ben now turned, fiercely to Marcus," enough here to add a great deal to your numbers. More than half here are volunteers for our force! An army of over fifty thousand is ready, and when we help you, and then ask for something that requires just a little generosity, you turn us away!?"

"Its not up to me, I'm sorry." Marcus did understand this mans anger, and the logic. But those who he answered to would not accept or even believe the numbers if Marcus told them. What else was that he, Marcus, had never heard of this town before, not once. "We just want a night's stay, then we can get out of your way." Ben did not respond. "Alright?"

"Yeah." he turned for the elevator, but did not move. "You get one nights stay. I'll supply you with weapons and supplies for that sort of travel. Then, I want you all out of my City."

"That's all we want."

Ben started for the elevator, and moodily pushed the button for down. "You can stay in this building for the night."

"Thank you."

As they both got in the Elevator, and it started down, Marcus thought hard. What he had just learned, had been said to, everything, he would have to explain to his soldiers. _What could Dom possibly say…_

* * *

"You know, it's not just about how big you are man, but dat helps too." Cole said, as he mimed having a Thrashball in his hand. He held out his other hand, and pretended to dodge and push away other players. "It's about speed, and how hard you can take a playa."

Eric, Dom, and Mark humored as Cole gave the 101 on Thrashball. Baird tried to look uninterested, although he would constantly throw interested looks at the impression of the game. Richard too was there, however he had drifted into a quiet snore and slid against a wall, already asleep.

They had moved themselves downstairs again after seeing the view. Now, only the chief remained on the floor above, peering through the glass, both form his visor and the large windows.

"I wonder what he's thinking about." Mark said as he glanced up and over his shoulder to the Spartan on the floor above. "Someone who never speaks must have a lot going through his head."

"Who knows man." Dom said, still watching Cole demonstrate still, even as Baird came up to prove that it was impossible for someone to maneuver in a special way.

"I just don't get it." Mark still watched the man above.

"Why do you care anyway?" Dom switched to look at him, rather than Baird tripping over his own feet as he tried to out-do Cole in the particular move. "He's someone you found, and he just doesn't talk to people."

"I like to know my allies. But he doesn't seem to like opening up a lot about himself, let alone his mouth, for anything or anyone."

"Might have too much to say... So instead he just says a little." Dom nodded, then laughed as Cole picked up Baird like a towel and tossed him to the couch.

"Cole… donteverdothatagain!" Baird shouted in a rush of words.

As Cole joined Dom's and Howard's laughs, he got out a "Sure thing dawg."

Mark was smiling too at the scene. "I wonder what got Marcus."

On perfect cue, Marcus walked out of the now opening elevator, followed by a more angered Ben.

"Eric, we're going."

"D-dad?" Eric said as his father walked quickly across the room.

"Now! We're leaving them to rest for this night, got it?"

"ok, I'm coming." He held his hand out for Dom as he walked by and they slapped hands. As he passed Cole, he got his fist pounded. Baird grunted a 'seeya' from the couch. And the two figures left the building.

"Eric is staying here, right?" Mark said to the other sergeant as he walked to them.

"Yeah. His dad and I agreed that he should stay here, regardless what he says about his marksmanship." Marcus stared after the door, a strange fixture of insecurity in his eyes.

"Hey, Marcus, what is it?" Dom said, immediately noticing the look.

"Its… nothing."

"So," Howard said, coming to sit next to Baird as the others from both squads now took a seat," What did he want?"

"Ben?" Marcus thought, not sure how to tell them. "He asked for Eric to stay."

"And?" Richard said, prodding the subject.

"And… he asked for massive Gear aid for the city."

A moments pause, awkward and long, rested after these words, until Baird and Richard both laughed in surprise or disbelief.

"What? He had the nerve to ask us- after all that crap they put us through-" Baird started.

"They're running out of supplies for the city." Marcus stated simply. This had Richard immediately stop laughing, and Baird slowed to a complete halt with his laughter. "They have a few months left until they start having trouble. So he asked me to bring the message to the higher ups."

"Bring supplies for tens of thousands of Stranded? Miles away from actual protection?" Mark said, seeing if what he had heard was what he thought was going on. "He asked us, to bring that, to our superiors?"

"Yeah. He thought it would be a 'gesture of good will' that could shift the views of the strandeds that live here about us."

"Gears." Dom stated.

"Gears." Marcus confirmed, gloomily.

Another long pause saturated around them. It wasn't until Mark moved that anyone stopped staring into space.

"Sounds like a good idea really. I mean," he started quickly, delaying a ridiculing response from Baird," its dangerous, but a huge amount of people one our side sounds good. This could have Strandeds look at us a different-"

"Strandeds? Help us? Are you high man?" Baird shot at him. "They take what they can, and then hide!"

"He doesn't work like that Baird-" Marcus started.

"He may be right man." Dom now sided with Baird, for what seemed like the first time, ever.

"What?"

"Strandeds, when they are asked something, will keep a deal. But when they are given something freely, they take it, and run for their lives to avoid getting harmed. It's how they live." Dom seemed not to like what he was saying any more than Marcus.

"Still-" Richard stated, only to be stopped by Marcus.

"We don't have a say in this." Marcus stood up. "We'll bring the message tomorrow when we get in radio contact with Anya, but until then, we consider this nothing more than Strandeds begging, got it?" The others didn't say a word. "Got it?"

"I don't like that." Master Chief had walked down the stairs from the raised voices.

"What- chief?"

"They are humans. Humans in need, and you are saying your job now is higher than fifty thousand lives?"

"Chief, we can't do anything about it at the moment!" Cortana said to him, making it clear that they too had been arguing about it the way down the stairs.

"Even if we could tell Hoffman that these guys are serious," Marcus started," what do you think he would say?"

"Doesn't matter. Human life is life, just like any other. When life asks for help, you should not turn your back on it, regardless its condition or differences. It's wrong." With that, the Spartan started up the stairs again, leaving a perplexed group of soldiers behind him.

"Look," Started Mark," let's just sleep this off. We're tired, pissed, and we lost those bad-ass cars. Its late and we need sleep 'cus we're out after we're awake. So, get some shut eye, ok?"

"Roger that." Richard said, heading for a legless sofa.

With that, the soldiers all found various places to rest, and within minutes started to sleep. Only the chief and Cortana stayed awake on the second level, staring at the city as light after light began to turn off, leaving only the blue flicker of the anti-Kyrll and the spotlights on the edge of the city, scanning for any signs of Locust. He was starting to wish he was there, on the edge of conflict, but the Master Chiefs head spun slightly.

"Chief, I know what you said is true, but be reasonable. They are miles away, have thousands to help, and those who would have to send lots of supplies to just to help a little section of this community would have to cross the entire area to get here. How would it be done?" Cortana plead quietly.

"It doesn't matter. It can be done." Master chief said nothing else the entire night, watching the hundreds of yellow-white lights all go off. Each one, he felt, represented a hope that these people had. And that hope was fading. He felt this world darker than the one he left. It was in a state of war unlike the one he had one. The humans had already lost one fight, and were loosing a second. The Spartan felt the world weep, and all he could do was shake his head at the state these humans had let themselves fall into.

* * *

You… h-o-w…

Man in red: What? You have to say my name first.

W-Really? Why? Can't people tell who you are?

Man in red: not necessarily. Its better to give me a title. After all, only a few have been able to directly identify me.

Ok, ok. Its… uh… nice to see you again… Alucard.

Alucard: Finally. Now, you seem to have a zombie problem. (zombies groan at the door)

Yeah, more or less. I already had to kill myself as a zombie by blasting my window out and climbing through. It was annoying.

Alucard: I see.

So… Vampire of Hellsing, can you rid me of this 'trash'?

Alucard: No. I cannot.

WhaWHAT!? Why not? Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't, and now you cannot? Who can?

Alucard: Quite simply, only you can rid these ghouls.

Wh… what?

Alucard: These zombies are the manifestation of your desire to write a particular type of story, or in your case, series. One which you had began to write as your first ever fanfiction, and then you discontinued it. So, these zombies appear endlessly because you have had them come.

This sounds waaay to much like the matrix rather than Gears of War/ Halo.

Alucard: (laughing evilly) Perhaps. But I cannot defeat them, unless you make a choice.

Choice? What kind of choice? Blue pill or red potion?

Alucard: No. Ignore your desire to write a revised version of the story you deleted, or to write a new story, a Hellsing story with multiple cross-overs, but centering around Hellsing itself. The choice my friend… is yours.

I must like writing cross-overs, right?

Alucard: It's your specialty. Hellsing/Resident Evil, and a little of another anime and another game. Once again, the choice is yours. Be eaten by the desire of The Hellsing War Chronicles, or… to restart with flying colors. What are you, EZB? A man? A dog? A monster!?

(EZB thinks hard, as zombies seem to start pushing the door out of his hinges, and Alucard sneers at EZB's thoughts.)

(To Be Concluded)

* * *

Now, on a more serious note.

These chapters are soaring because one, the first days back in school, regardless that the third quarter is about to end, has little for me to do for some reason. So, I get bored, do some Warcraft, Xbox, then write. And of course update my profile on (check it out, new stuff is up :))

But that doesn't mean this speedy writing will continue forever. Sadly, the work will most likely continue next week. But until then, the next chapter, and the end of Part 2 of Men of War will probably be out on Saturday. Later, or super early. Don't know yet.

Lastly… oh the hell with it, if anyone wants to chill out on Xbox live with me, look for Cmdr Zohall as a profile. And/Or if you play wow, check out my avatar as… what else? EZB, a warrior.

One last thing. The little story that has began with Alucard and zombies and new anime thing is not all up to me. Say what you think about me thinking to re-start up my old anime series. Or if you never read it, start a new anime series. I need your council (lol)

Thanks for reading! Now please review 


	18. Parting of Ways

(Alucard still sneers at EZB as zombies continue to groan through door.)

Alucard: Well?

Alucard… I've made a decision.

Alucard: What is the final say, Author?

Leave me alone for a bit… I'll come up with something.

Alucard: (smiles widely and evilly) Fine then. Write quickly or be devoured, human. (fades through a wall, laughing)

Well… I guess I will write this… Wait a second… (looks at zombies, then at Chapter 19 for 'Men of War'.) Alucard, you left a loophole.

(smiles to himself and begins to write feverously)

Zombies outside: Gra ghhhhu sfooo (I have a strange impulse to leave.)

Other zombies: Urrr (yeaaah. Lets go somewhere else.)

* * *

"Get up Baird."

"Get lost." Baird said in his sleep, not sure were he was, but still wanting more sleep.

"Baird!"

"Shut up!" he shouted again at the same voice.

"I got it dawg."

The dreamland Baird was trying so hard to keep intact was brutally shattered as Cole jerked the couch he slept on up, and slammed down, having the spiky blond haired veteran fall from the couch, collapsing on the floor. A few voice laughed sleepily.

"Fuck you guys… fuck you soo badly." Baird was feeling more murderous than the time Dom had commented that on his similar smell to the sewers he and Cole had run through, despite three days passing since then.

"Morning sunshine." Dom said, sitting on the couch, rubbing his eyes gently.

Around the still massive room, the Gears had begun to wake up. Among the first to wake were Marcus, Howard, and Carey. Surprisingly, Richard had awoke the instant Marcus sighed from the hard surface he had slept on. Dom and Cole had followed, having that the room had started to flood with light from the rising sun. This left Baird and Mark, the two blonds sleeping, at least until recently.

"Where is our 'other' sergeant?" Richard stated, sounding like a parent prompting a child to come out and shout 'boo', mostly because of the morning drag still put on his mood.

"There… oh please let me." Baird said, locating Mark behind his own couch sleeping on the floor, then growing a wicked smile on his face as he leapt lightly over, crouched down next to the still sleeping sergeants head, and shouted. "GOOD MOR-"

Outside, Master Chief stood awake, watching the sun rise. From inside, he heard the bitterly loud and obnoxious cheer of good morning, cut short by a thud and shout of agony.

"It sounds like they're all awake." Cortana said, sounding as cheerfully sarcastic as she could.

"I figured." He responded, hinting a slight side of actual resistance to her morning mood. He still had not forgotten about last night's talk of the Strandeds plea.

"Yeah." she said, trying to ease the conversation back to a more casual tone," What route are we taking?"

"Same way as before."

"Good. Chief, we passed two escape pods you launched on the way here. You should check them out before we get to the ship."

"Good, we might need them." The Spartan turned around; watching the soldiers he had accompanied for almost a day so far and now had come to consider them close allies, sleepily march from the somewhat comfortable furniture. Baird was walking behind a mad, almost crazily angered looking Mark, holding his left eye with the palm of his hand as Mark murmured darkly to himself.

"Ready Spartan?" Marcus said, indicating the now opening gates ahead of them across the courtyard. The Master Chief just nodded, and started walking, the Lancer Assault Rifle he had scavenged still with him as he lifted it up and then back into his arms. The Gears followed him, passing through the courtyard, to the now fully opened gates. Outside, several stranded guards, Ben 'El Mercado' and Eric all stood waiting. Among the Guards, as the others got closer could steadily see, was a still disapproving looking Gary 'tough time'.

"Oh good. I was afraid I would have to wake you all up." Ben stated, without any emotion in his voice in any way. He, like the Chief, certainly remembered the conversation with Marcus.

"It's fine, we're fully capable." said a less darkly Mark, looking through the ten or so guardsmen now accompanying him.

"Hey guys." Eric yawned sleepily. He was out, in the brisk morning cold, which still seemed to have the city in a state of sleep, and he had come with his father.

"You can't-" Marcus started, only to be finished by an irritable Eric.

"Go with you guys any further, yeah, yeah. I got that much. Apperantly I have things to 'prepare for', whatever that means." He finished throwing a accusing look to his adoptive father.

"Yes, you do, and then no one here wants to put you or any more of your friends at risk; understood?" said Ben, raising his voice slightly.

"Sure." Eric shrugged.

"Are we ready?" Dom asked, focusing back to the departure.

"I hope so." Ben said, turning and forcing the Guard through the small gap in the wall, then starting for the gap himself as they left. "You are getting a one-way ticket out of this city." As he left, Eric followed, nodding his head sideways to the Gears, telling them to get closer. Mark and Baird both stepped to the side as the other gears and Master Chief walked through.

"Be careful what you guys do now." Eric said, precautious. "Dad was ticked about something after he left, rambling about the state gears have gotten to."

Surprisingly, Baird and Mark exchanged glances for the first time, and without saying a word, unanimously agreed on something: Not to tell him what was going on in the city.

"Marcus was being moody, that's all." Mark said, quickly getting back up and hurrying after the others. Baird still watched Eric.

"What?"

"I once thought Strandeds were all crap." He said, about to turn to the passage, then was stopped by Eric. "What?"

Eric was looking at his right eye. "What happened to your eye?" Baird swallowed angrily, looking away. His right eye had been punched hard by the Sergeant he enthusiastically woke, and then almost knocked off his knees from the impact. The purple bruise forming was very obvious.

"Nothing. Lets go." He quickly started for the passage, as Eric followed, still pondering what had happened.

Outside the dark path, the others had again become a group, and started to move out. As they walked out, the reached the same street they had been on before, this time without the bustling numbers of Strandeds passing around through the streets, throwing them dark, fearful, or aggressive looks. Nothing but the occasional person sleeping outside, lying on a wall, fence, or just on the ground gave them company.

It then occurred to Marcus that this was Ben's way of getting back at the reject for help. They had no choice to see the over crowded cities population with little or no home as they left the city, giving them a cold memory of what they were leaving, for dead or worse. Marcus saw the tactic and was forced to momentarily agree with what Ben had been saying the entire time. They looked like they could use some help, regardless who it was giving the help.

On the other hand, this was a mere way at fighting back at the Gears deciding to leave them behind as if nothing had happened; this weighed Marcus's sympathy for those living so harshly. He couldn't tell though if the others in the group had thought of all this, but no one was saying a word so far.

A sudden explosion ripped far away, having a short burst of a fireball fly over a short building at least half a mile away.

"Shit!" Ben spat. The sounds of the explosion and exchange of gunfire had awoken those few sleeping on the streets, and those awake enough now seemed to back away form the sound, just as the Guards took steps to the firefight happening, unseen from at least three streets away.

"Sir!" Gary shouted, at the head of the guard, looking back with plead in his eyes.

"Fuck it, go! I'll take care of this!" as more gunfire echoed, the group of guards ran hastily after the noise, each one loading their guns. "That's what I get," Ben growled, turning for the smaller gate that the large group had entered the city last night with," for helping Gears: the Locust show up." Walked on, still grumbling. The members all exchanged glances, and followed, still not saying anything.

"Open up- briefly these guys are leaving in a hurry!" Ben shouted to the Gate watches above them on the platform behind the gate.

"Yessir."

As the gate began to open, the Gears walked past Ben, through the parting gates, and then outside them. Ben and eric followed, each watching them.

"Good luck. Whatever you're doing, you will need it." ben stated briefly, then turned back to the gate. Eric waited.

"Seeya kid." Mark waved and started to walk away, the others now moving away themselves, and each giving a farewell of their own. Only Marcus and The Chief stayed behind a moment.

"It's been an honor." Eric said, extending his hand for Marcus, who took it and shook it. "Just remember, you guys ever need any help, we'll be here for you guys." Marcus sighed.

"I don't think we're coming back."

"Maybe. But if you do, just remember, we're fighting the same bad guys here, ok?" Eric asked, starting to smile. Marcus watched the younger man, then ruffled his hair.

"You are our future, so don't die." He started to walk away, and then turned around. "Say 'bye to Hank for me, would ya?"

"Sure!" Eric waved, then turned to face the still present man in armor.

"He's right, you are the future. And by the looks of it, a bright one." Cortana said through Master chiefs speakers, having Eric nod embarrassedly.

"Seeya kid." Master Chief patted the shoulder, then held it briefly. "Stay alive, and don't stop fighting."

"I wont." Responded Eric, the son of Ben, El Mercado, with brimming confidence that the chief had not seen such amount in a long time. Then he walked off, following the other Gears, which still walked on, gathering distance.

"Be careful." He said and then turned to the now closing gates and stepped inside.

The Men of War left the Strandeds behind once again.

"That is one kid full of potential." Mark said, staring at the now blue sky.

"He said "Remember, when you guys need any help, we'll be here for you"." Marcus said, almost gloomily. "Makes you wonder who was it that was more friendly at all, us or them."

"Kid's fine." Baird listed," Ben, I could see as better, Gary could go to hell for all I care."

"Dude, what about the others?" Cole said, looking to the others as the walked past the surrounding of buildings where the group of armed stranded had found them, almost devoured by the Kryll. "He was right- not only do thay got a problem wit' the supplies, but they got problems with sleepin' habits."

"Yeah, I saw that too," Richard agreed," but that seemed like a mean as hell thing to do. Walking out, seeing the people in need… but is there anything we can do as of now??"

"Don't think so." Dom said, also looking ahead and put down." When we get in contact with the others, maybe. But until then, I think it's every group to themselves."

"Chief…" Cortana said, as the green giant was still behind the main group, but not out of earshot. "They're right."

"I don't think we're done with the Strandeds." The Spartan said, now looking on his personal radar. "Should they be in range yet?"

"Yes, just about." With the assurance, the chief activated the tracker for fallen escape pods, and two appeared on his visor, about a mile away, directly ahead of them.

Hey look, its where that statue was, right Cole?" They had passed a headless marble sculpture imbedded in the concrete on its side, a black scorch mark where the head was formerly. "I miss those cars already."

"They were quick to grab them." Howard added, looking back, seeing the whole car ride in his mind. "Took 'em one night to get three cars completely wherever they wanted."

"Guys." The others stopped and turned to the Chief, who had turned, walking into a broken apart building. "I need to take a pit stop."

"What, another one?" Mark said, and then remembered the last one he had. "I'm coming!" he excitedly ran past the others and after the green chief. The other Gears looked on, confused at the enthusiasm presented by the Sergeant. The all shrugged in their minds, not seeing any harm in whatever was being done, and followed the two.

Exiting a burnt down house, the chief found the two escape pods he had found. One had not opened yet, and the other had, spilling its contents of three firebomb grenades, two frag grenades, four plasma grenades, two SMG's, and a rocket launcher.

"This looks good." The said, then slapping the second one, and having its hatch blast open, presenting a covenant plasma sword, a plasma carbine rifle, and a needler.

"Chief, what are you going to pick?"

"I call dibs on these!" Mark had seen the two MSG's and raised them, feeling their comparatively small amount of weight. "Use 'em both at the same time… oh yeah." he pointed them around, smiling in his personal glory from the guns, his Lancer Rifle on his back.

"What's this-" Howard bent down to reach for the Rocket launcher, but as the Chief remembered what happened last time when he reached for something like that, he quickly retrieved it, and held it to him.

"Aim there, and shoot here." He said, pointing to the scope, and the fire trigger.

"Got you… what is it?"

"It looks like a rocket Launcher." Dom said, his mouth open slightly at the sight of the dual tubes. "But the last one made was over a hundred years ago, and this one looks completely different."

"Times change." Marcus stated, and looked through the stash, picking up the Carbine, and examining it.

Master Chief retrieved the un-activated Energy Sword, and placed it on the magnetic attachment on his hip, placing it for battle. "Take what you can, then lets move on."

After those who were interested in the supplies got their weapons, and Chief had gotten his new grenade once again, they started off for the way they came.

"Chief, I just got a high-priority signal from the sentinels." Cortana sounded worried. "Several humanoid groups are detected moving about, heading to the ship. Should I give them the order to-"

"Tell them to wait for us." Mark quickly said. "Several locust groups are dangerous, and those little robots will be torn apart if they go it alone."

"What he said." The Spartan compleied.

"Alright. They will hover in the canopy until we arrive and give them new orders."

"Then we had better move!" Marcus yelled, producing a similar effect of a battle cry form the others, excluding the chief. With that, they started running their way to the dense forest which was now visible just behind the large shopping complex. Finally passing into the complex, and running past the various decaying shops and stands for advertising to get to the large opening in the back.

Finally, they reached the forest, and continued down the dirt path that they took. It led them to the back, and hopefully to a more strategically safe point near the ship where they could strike out. Bu all they could see was the top of the massive frigate, still smoking slightly atop the canopy of trees. Then, after thirty minutes of running, and partial complaining from Baird, they stopped.

"Damn… its about fuckin' time!"

"Same… here." Replied Richard to Baird. Almost everyone here was panting from the constant running, except for Master chief, who had simply been a soft run due to his massive size, and surprisingly Carey was not out of breath. Rather, he had started to peer out from the dense forest they had taken a break in.

"The Locust are here." He said, sounding the same as he always did.

Marcus and the other Sergeant got up from their labored breathing, and walked over to the section of foliage, and pushed some leaves out of their sights.

In the clearing created by the impact of the ship, almost twenty armed Locust grubs were walking about, as several had started to climb up the massive ship to get a view of the inside. Among them, coning with the nasty smell, a Seeder was seen, shooting out the occasional Nemacyst. And standing guard over the large creature, were two Boomers. Finally, standing by still intact tree trunk, was a Theron Sentinel Guard with Torque Bow, the top of the top. Around him were three normal Theron guards, each listening to the top speak orders to them.

"What a good looking future we have." Mark said, as they both crept back away from the clearing.

"Ok guys." Marcus said, coming back to the others. "It looks like we have a hell of a fight up ahead. There are Grubs, two Boomers, Nemacyst along with a Seeder, and some Theron Guards."

"Great. Just great." Baird spat aggressively. "S we're planning to die here."

"No, I'm sure there are some Wretches out there too." Mark said, looking to Marcus as if correcting him and ignoring Baird.

"Funny, asshole."

"What's the plan then?" Dom asked. "We wait for back up?"

"No back up's coming until we get a message out, and there is a seeder out there. We're alone out here."

"No." Master Chief walked up to them, holding up the Lancer rifle against his shoulder. "You got me."

"You never fought the Theron Guards before. They're smarter, faster, and tougher than the others."

"Sounds just like the Elites." Master Chief thought of the comparison of the tall Elites and grunts to the Locust average soldier, and these newer types. All in all, it seemed to him a simple exchange of look and speaking habits.

"They are the Elites of Locust."

"Then I'll take care of them."

"That's suici-" started Howard.

"If the Elites are taken off your back, do you think you can take care of the rest?" Interrupted the Spartan.

The various soldiers exchanged looks. If the chief was successful, it was very possible. But what he was proposing, taking out four Therons on his own seemed impossible.

"Well?" he asked again.

"Theoretically, yes." Richard answered for the others. "Assuming you can pull that off."

"Don't worry gentlemen." Cortana said with brimming confidence. "When the Chief has something to do, he does it and continues on. In fact," she continued," that he will be able to not only beat them, but then still kill other Locust after wiping the blood off of his hands."

"It's a deal." The chief said to his always present partner.

* * *

Ok, Alucard. You can Come back in. (The red-clad vampire walks through a wall into the room)

Alucard: Well, author? What have you decided- (looks at door, where groans can be no longer heard) ah. So you wrote a story or chapter?

Yeah. The Hellsing War Chronicles. Take a look at the first chapter. (Alucard walks over to the chair, bends over and reads out loud several sections)

Alucard: "He wore a long red duster jacket with red fringe on each shoulder, black pants and inner jacket, along with white shirt under it all. It was finished off with a red tie, tied in an elaborate bow, a wide, red hat, and a pair of dark orange tinted sunglasses. … It was the strangest display Towers had seen in a very long time"? What a honoring statement about myself.

Yeah. Well, you got what you want, and the Zombies are gone right?

Alucard: Yes, they have left. So, you now will write this story rather than the we are presently in?

What made you think that? (smirks at Alucard, who raises eyebrows)

Alucard: So, you think that you can accomplish this? Two super-massive stories to write and still have time to spare?

Hey man, I am one crazy motherfucker. You never know. Now get out of here, you'll be needed soon in the 'other' story that I will be writing now.

Alucard: Fine. But know this, I, and your readers will be watching you writing skill and focus. Screw up… and suffer. (vanishes into the wall)

Well, I guess that settles it.

I will be starting up The Hellsing War Chronicles as soon as the next chapter ends, which coincidentally is the end of part two, start of part three. Crazy hu? And still, there is much to do for this story. I mean MUCH to do. This sucker still has a long ass way to go, so don't plan on this ever ending for a long time.

Oh, and since the last chapter, this story has reached over 10000 reads! Now growing to 11000! MAJOR, MAJOR PROPS to all my readers who love this stuff, cus I can't do any of this without you all…

(looks around expecting something) and I guess that since there no longer is a 'linear' storyline for these side-chapters, I can start dying randomly all over again-

(spots several corn cobs on his desk)… those weren't there before.

Dr Weird (from aqua teen hunger force): Gentlemen! Behold! (waves to corn) CORN!!

What in the fuck?

Steve (also from ATHF): Yeah… (backs away from corn) I- I'm not so sure about that kind of corn anymore.

Dr. Weird: But, this is different! This corn… is edible!!

Steve: oh. (steps back)

How did you get in my-

Dr. Weird: to get edible, it must eat… YOU!! (attacks, stabs, impales and covers face of EZB and Steve, sticking them both to the walls) BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! (corn covers head glass of Dr. Weird) MY MY!!


	19. UNSC Frigate Forward Unto Dawn

The Locust surrounding the ship moved still, guarding, scouting, and doing various tasks that ensured their security of the area. Boomers on a small ledge near the ship, which was a piece of wreckage from the ship itself, watched numbly as the grubs walked around, or observed the ship itself.

Several Grubs had taken the challenge of climbing the broken ship to an access point and stopped, acting as vantage point shooters, able to pinpoint any shots in the area with excellence. Then, east of the ship, and in front of the Boomers, just before the ending of the Forest clearing, several Theron Guards stood, all conversing about something. One stood a little taller than the others, which signaled himself as the leader.

And south of the ship, at the section of tear, something stirred a leaf. An nearly perfectly camouflaged sniper rifle was pointing out, just by a few inches, of the trees. Carey Starfield directed the shot, looking carefully at each area of the visible clearing.

"Count, twenty seven grubs, two boomers, four Theron Guards."

"Sounds right." Mark said, looking to the others behind him. He motioned to Delta squad to get into position. He then turned to his right and looked over his shoulder to the Spartan. "You know what to do?"

The huge man nodded, and surprised them all by being able to disappear so quickly in the foliage, ducking and crouch-walking in, almost cutting his size in two.

"Great. Carey, take first shot- most vulnerable. Second shot- most powerful. After that, you're free to whatever you want, ok?"

The man, still staring into the scope, nodded briefly. With that Mark signaled what else of Alpha to move after Delta. And Carey stared down the scope, choosing his first target- a Grub, standing slightly behind another grub. The most vulnerable. He aimed…

The locust in front had no idea what had just happened. A loud bang a 'swoosh' and a shot had him stop what he was doing, along with almost everything else in the opening. And as it turned to face its partner, a spray of blood and a headless body gave explanation to the gunshot.

"GEARS!!" the Locust howled as it ran for cover, along with the over Grubs. The boomers loaded their guns and started scanning the area.

From inside the Foliage, Carey took in sights his next target. The left boomer. "The most powerful." He aimed once again, and shot at it's heart. The beast took the impact and recoiled slightly, and after that, Carey swore and rolled to his left as several Locust turned to his former position and fired into the plant life. Then the boomers growled.

"**Boom**." Both fired their grenade launches simultaneously, and had the area nearly incinerated apart, having one thin tree collapse and catch fire in the blast. Through the smoke, several figures darted past, giving more targets to for the smaller grubs to fire at, still not have taken full cover.

Alpha and Delta squad had both reached the end of the ship still intact and alive. After all checking in with each other, and the late arrival of Carey with his sniper, Mark shouted.

"All right, Alpha, we're going around!"

"Right!" Richard took the lead, going left, around the ship and Howard followed, grunting along the way, finally being followed by Carey, still silent.

"Whoa- whoa, where are you guys going?" Marcus held back the other Sergeant for a moment, as several bullets raced by.

"Front- we need to take out any of the other Grubs ahead, and then those two Boomers!"

"And what about us!?" Dom shouted as another Boomshot exploded just around their cover. Mark gave him an incredulous look as he lifted his gun up.

"What are you talking about? You're delta squad! You can take care of yourselves!" he said as he chased after his squad mates around the side of the ship. Delta exchanged glances at this comment.

"I swear I kill him." Baird complained once again.

"Enough!" Marcus glanced around the corner to see more Locust still firing at their position. "We aren't moving anywhere until the other squad makes a move! There's to many of them now!"

"Dawg, get out da way!" Cole shoved the others out of his way, now leaning up against the wall of metal from the ship that was their only protection, and at the pause of some gunfire, he looked out and blasted away at any locust still approaching. His gunfire had some take cover, and now an effective firefight stalemate had been achieved.

"Good!" Marcus praised as a shot nearly missed them.

Alpha squad moved silently across the ships hull, heading for the opposite ending. At the lead, Richard peered to the ending, hoping that whatever they found would not be too hard to handle for them. They still were mortal soldiers.

"Stop, stop, stop…" he held his hand out as the got closer to the end, and they slowed to a creeping walk. At the end, Richard peered around the corner, staring at their opponents. The Boomers were close, but before them, hiding in the shadow of the ship were at least twenty more wretches, waiting for any Gears that would come to close on the other side of the ship.

"Shit." He backed up as more gunfire was heard around the other side of the ship. "We've got as much as a problem here as we did back there." He said as Mark moved up front.

"Don't worry, I got a plan-"

"There's like twenty wretches all hiding."

"Oh fuck." Mark thought for a moment, and then seemed to have a light bulb moment, his eyes widening and his mouth grinning. "Never mind, I got another one anyway." He turned to Howard. "Shoot what you can, but save at least two for the Boomers, got it?"

"Yes sir." He nodded, and pulled readied the Rocket launcher.

"You," Mark tossed his Lancer Rifle to Richard, who caught it with his left hand and struggled to hold the weight," give me cover."

"Wh-what? How can I do that? I can barely aim!"

"You don't need to. Carey will do that for us." He nodded to the darkly man who nodded back. "We just need to provide enough hot bullets to plaster the floor with wretch guts. Got it?" Mark pulled out the two small guns he retrieved from the escape pods. "We can do this. After all, these guns could shoot lasers or something!"

"They're just small guns." Richard said. Mark smacked him over the head with the end grip of one SMG.

"I was being enthusiastically sarcastic, dumbass!"

"Guys." Howard whispered, looking around the corner.

"Alright, lets… GO!!"

Howard rolled out, pointing the large rocket launcher at a trio of Locust grunts, aiming down the ship at Delta squad. As soon as he did, Mark moved out, followed by Richard, who staggered to pull the weight of two rifles, and still aim with them. Carey came out at the rear, still with his sniper.

Howard fired the rocket, and it soared straight for the unnoticing Grubs. The rocket made contact with one, and the three exploded. At this, the wretches sounded their howl, and turned for them, and started hopping madly at them.

"Eat this, shitheads!" Richard, now standing still had the strength to lift the rifles at the skipping wretches, and pulled both triggers. Next to him, Mark raised the smaller SMG's and pulled both of their triggers. As result, there was the effect of a modified troika mounted machine gun at close range. The Wretches were getting pieced apart, and Mark started running at them, screaming as he did, still firing.

At the end of the clip, he tossed one SMG at one remaining wretch as Richard re-loaded, and the brought down the butt of the gun as hard as he could on the last one's skull. A sickening crunch was granted to the Sergeant, and the small being fell to the floor dead.

"Nice!" Richard tossed a rifle to Mark, who caught it and reloaded. "Boomer!" Richard rolled back as Mark rolled forward. The boomer who had fired narrowly missed the squad. Howard, who had been aiming for them, shot a rocket into the air by accident, his hand still by the trigger.

"Two shots left- reloading!" the experienced veteran shouted from his new cover, next to Richard and Carey,

"Damnit- get a going then!" Mark shouted. He heard a bullet whiz by his head, and he panicked for one moment, and shuffled back to the cover of the 'front of the ship, in the shadow. The few Grubs not completely focusing on the Delta Squad had turned to the momentarily open Sergeant Agron. And now, rather than taking cover from the Boomers, he was now taking cover from Grubs, but in full view of now reloading boomers.

On the other side, Marcus knew it was time for something drastic.

"Someone give me Cover!"

"Right!" Baird got up, and tossed a small object out in the open. "Ready…"

Marcus stared at him in disbelief. "What the hell kind of protection is that?!"

"Just watch!" Baird pointed to the object, which had begun to whirr. "It's a energy powered proctection system which protects soldiers inside from projectiles!" As soon as he finished, a golden sphere flashed out, spanning a diameter of about ten meters.

"English please!" Marcus said, looking at the light.

"It stops bullets from hitting you!" Baird shouted angrily, and with that, Marcus darted out, into the sphere, and then partial out of the second side, his gun pointed to the closest Grubs, which had been completely taken by surprise at the appearance of the strange object. With his window of opportunity open, he fired at them taking them out in a matter of seconds. They each fell to the ground with a thud.

"Shit!" he retreated back in at the sight of a Boomshot soaring right for him. Backing inside, he saw as the grenades hit the outside barrier and exploded, not coming close to harming the Squad men inside.

"I knew it was a good idea to bring this!" Baird exclaimed as he shot down several Locust above them, who all fell to the ground, dead.

"Bring on the pain!" Cole agreed, now firing with the other four, as they all took advantage of the invincible golden sphere.

"We are absolutely going to-" Dom started, and as soon as he finished 'to' the machine beeped, popped and broke, and the golden glow vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Win this??"

"Take cover AGAIN!"

"I knew that thing was useless!" Baird shouted at the others as he and Marcus ran to the left while Dom and Cole took cover to the right. "Only works for a while!"

"It could have been nice to know that ahead of fighting!" Marcus shouted to the man next to him as the bullets continued to roar past him.

The four Theron Guards had been watching the struggle, still apart from the battle, waiting for an opportune moment to stike against the several Gears that had started a firefight. Each one raised their weapon- a Torque bow up, eagerly grinning in wait to join the battle at hand. But something distracted them as they decided to move against the Gears.

Through the forest to their right, a massive figure walked out, apparently unarmed but for a single small curved object in his hand. The tall man in thick green armor, wearing a helmet of green and visor of gold walked forward, confident in his stride closer to the near absolute top of the Locust warriors. Master Chief was analyzing their every physical feature as he approached, observing them through the golden glass in front of his eyes.

The Guards growled at his consistent approach, one even turned, and charged up the bow. He still walked to them, taking his time as he watched their movements. The weapon charged, and the Guard fired it at him. In a flash of movment, the chief rolled to the side, and dodged the bow, as he saw it flash by him, and get in his knees. The explosion behind him told him these could hurt.

"I'll be timing you." Cortana warned him, prodding him to the game at hand. "You up to it?"

"You're on." He stood up as the others turned, charging up their guns again. Inside his helmet, he smiled.

Holding the inactivated plasma sword to his side, he turned on the weapon, and it flashed into life, glowing the magnificent blue light it normally did. With that, the Guards paused for a moment, and each fire in turn as the chief dodged, evaded and finally jumped away form the attacks. They reloaded, and stepped back, gaining distance.

This was his opportunity.

Quickly, he charged, running as fast as he could in his armor, at least until he knew he was in range for a lunge; The Plasma blades ultimate attack. The head Guard reloaded quicker than the others, and fired on shot ahead of the Chief, trying to stop his approach. The green giant leapt high, over ten feet in the air, narrowly getting missed by three other shots from the other Theron Guards. Still in the air, he was ready. He focused on the closest, and as soon as he landed, he put his weight forward and pushed with all his might on one leap, and soared forward, his sword readied, lowered down.

And he was a foot from the snarling target in half a second. At the millisecond of range, he slashed up, and soared past the group, landing behind them. The other three, including the Theron Sentinel, all turned to follow his path, changing weapons to accommodate his speed. But the sudden falling apart of the fourth Guard down the middle had them turn suddenly around, their distorted mouths open. The Chief again started running at them.

In a new strategy, the Top guard directed the other two remaining to separate, giving him three targets, each armed with a Lancer Assault rifle. Then, after getting a good distance, they turned and fired. Master Chief took sights of the closest target- the two normal guards. So he charged at them, the sword lowered, waiting to strike. They both fired at him, trying to having him fall back, but the combination of his dodging, his speed, and the personal shields, which they just noticed, allowed him to close in the distance. With on lunge, he flew at the left Guard, slashing up at it, making a large bloody gash on its body.

The chief quickly turned, avoiding a diagonal slash of the chainsaw, and with his plasma sword, slashed across the guards back, severing the spinal column. They both had fallen in seconds. Standing to his full height, he slowly faced the Theron Sentinel, his blade ready. It hissed at him, raising the gun to face him.

Far by the back end of the ship, Alpha Squad now fought off what was still two Boomers, armed and dangerous.

"Duck!" Mark forced Richard to the ground with himself as a grenade shot flew over their heads and blasted apart a tree trunk. "Howard! Do it now!!"

"Roger, that!" Howard jumped out from a metal section of the ship that had been torn off in the landing, his rocket launcher out and pointed to one of the boomers. They both saw it, but the Left boomer pushed the right back, getting a head start, which was enough to avoid the blast as the rocket flew out and struck the right boomer in the chest, blasting it into pieces. "Nice!"

The last boomer had gotten up, now staring at Delta squad leader Marcus Fenix, its Boomshot Grenade Launcher raised, its mouth growling.

"Boo-"

"Marcus!!" Marcus didn't have to look as he whirled around, seeing Dom throw a grenade at him with all his strength. Marcus caught the small explosive, and still using its momentum, took out the pin, and added his own throw to it, having it fly to the still aiming Boomer. It had the grenade stick it in the face, sticking to the skin with its array of spikes.

"Graah!" was the last thing it ever said as the grenade beeped and exploded, having the head disintegrate.

"Hell'z YEAH!" Dom shouted as the lifeless body fell back, dead.

The Theron Guard fired its rifle, and the Spartan raced forward, weaving side to side as the bullets scraped his personal shield, but not harming him still. He was almost there, and then the Theron Guard quickly changed weapons, kicking the chief with a planted foot, having him fall back. The chief rolled back up, seeing the Torque bow, fully changed, directed at his face. But the Guard had made a crucial error.

The Chief lunged, and the guard fired. The arrow stuck to the shield, and the chief was able to stab the guard in the chest, impaling it fully with the burning sword. And to add to the beasts death, the bow exploded, ripping the Theron Guard apart, and the shields lowered completely.

"That was nice, chief. Sounds like they were able to handle their own back there too, and we still have the Sentinal Drones observing the battle. All report in that the soldiers are fine." Cortana checked with him.

"Good." He de-activated the plasma sword, and placed it by the magnetic strap, for a better time. "They can't be the best, these guards."

"They are not." A terrible, deep, ragged voice that seemed to hiss said behind him. The chief turned.

A bulky figure marched out from the forest, holding a long pole in its hand. It was a locust, but at least three feet taller than the grubs, and at least a foot wider. He was dressed like a Boomer, but had spikes on the shoulders, with what looked like human skulls impaled on the spikes. It had less pronounced chin as well. For all its terrible look, it actually looked slightly more like a human in its facial appearance. It's nose was more pronounced, and its eyes were brighter.

"What… is that?" Cortana could not fathom what had just walked up to them from the forest.

"I… what am I?" The beast, or whatever it was had more ability to speak than any other locust so far. "I am second General S.C.Y.T.H., leader of offensive forces of the horde, her majesties second." He bowed at the word 'majesty', and as he got back up, stabbed his pole into the ground. "What you are matters not. Simple die as my opponent, human." As the chief watched, he noticed that all around the armor, there were small sections of pole, or some sort of cylindrical device that he was now retrieving.

"I wouldn't bet on it." The Chief pulled out his Plasma sword, and activated it. So, he started his charge, running at the new appearance of this figure, this general. And he closed in, close enough to lunge.

Just as he lunged, the general did something to the pole-like objects, and bright yellow light flashed from them. He had two light-blades, one in each hand, as he blocked the Spartan. With a roar, he pushed away the chief, he jumped back. If the visor was easy to see through, the wide eyes of the Spartan could be visible. It had energy weapons to. The first opponent so far, and this general, had energy weapons.

"What a strange weapon you hold… it seems a distant relative of my blades." Even through its thick arms, it was effectively manipulating the blades with ease. And then, the beast charged. The chief mimicked, and they bounced off of each other through the reflecting of the energy blades. The Spartan swung up as the beast slashed down, and they effectively parried each other.

The beast tossed one blade at the Chief from the distance, and as the chief barely had the time to dodge, he watched it actually penetrate his personal shields with ease, and pass through entirely, but still missing him.

"Chief- careful!"

He rolled to his side as the General threw more of these golden blades at him, each one coming close to hitting him. As the General paused to retrieve more of them, the Spartan took his chance, and ran for him. As he lunged, the General parried with one slash, then with his other arm, smashed at the chief.

He was unharmed, but felt the blade cut into his armor. Landing away, he looked down at his chest. A short burn mark had been made, only half an inch deep, but that had been a glancing blow, not a full slash. These sword the general carried were as dangerous as the plasma swords.

"See? See you devil?" the general spat," how I will beat you? You magic cannot always win-" the possible speech made form the General 'S.C.Y.E.T.H.' was cut short, being that a strange look was captivated in his eyes. "But another day, demon."

"Chief!!" the sudden appearance of Cole literally smashing into the General took the chief by surprise. The General, who slashed at Cole, howled in anger, and threw its two blades at the large black man. But in surprising agility, he was able to get back on his feet and dodge the blades.

"You got to have more than muscle to be a good thrashball playa!"

"There!" Marcus and the other squad members, including alpha, were running to the others, just as a sudden rumbling took them all by surprise. Many massive arachnid legs protruded from the ground, and fell around the general. A Corpser had arisen.

"This looks like my leave, humans." The General sneered, and he ripped the long pole from the ground, and spun it over his head. As he did, he placed it over his back, and turned to walk to the Corpser.

"Wait- shoot him!" Mark said to Howard. Richard fired several shots as he did, but the Corpser moaned and put its heavily armored legs in front, blocking the gunfire from reaching the retreating being.

"I… sir that kind of armor is hard to beat, even with these rockets!"

"Damn it!!" Mark shouted, and the legs parted, to have the General now located atop the massive beast.

"Just know, humans." He said as the others aimed for his head," that because I leave means that many more will come. By no later than the next star coming, my army will arrive, and you will leave or die. By all means," the Corpser began to dig itself back into the ground," stay and die like a good soldier."

"Fucker, get back here!" Mark shouted as the figured disappeared in a blast of dirt as the Corpser vanished form sight.

"Chief… I see you took care of the-"

"Yeah." the others just noticed the sliced up Theron Guards.

"So… who was that?" Baird said, just before noticing something feet from him.

"He said his name was S.C.Y.T.H.."

"He must have been a General." Baird said casually, now fiddling with a small cylinder from the ground he just picked up.

"Sounds about right."

"The seeder left after the Boomers were finished, sorry for taking so long to get-" Mark said, still watching the tall figure in front of them. He got no response, as he was still thinking. "Never mind."

"I guess it's time to contact H.Q." Marcus said, looking for something to do. With that, he raised his hand to his ear, and spoke. "This is Marcus Fenix of Delta-"

"And Mark Agron of Alpha." Said the other Sergeant, slightly accusatory.

"… calling H.Q. do you read?"

"Copy that-"

"Anya!" Dom said, giving a long sigh. "It feels great to hear you again."

"Nice to hear from Delta again." She either ignore or forgot Alpha, which seemed to annoy the other Sergeant to no ends. "What took you guys so long? You were supposed to confirm secure-"

"Lieutenant Stroud," Mark said aggressively," we were unable to 'secure' the object due to massive Kryll population at night, so we had to delay this nice little conversation until now. Sorry, but we had to kind of survive, unlike others."

"Sergeant Agron! You were given orders to secure the object, have you or not!?"

"Yes, we have!" Marcus interjected quickly. He had never heard Anya angry like that before. "the perimeter is now secure, and Locust presence is non-existent. We need immediate back up, if we are to hold Gear's presence in this area, over?"

Anya's deep breaths could be heard, calming herself down. "Yes… I'll order several King Ravens with Squads to be en-rout with you as soon as I clear this with the Colonel. Over."

"Copy that."

All eyes, except that of the Chief, who had a good idea what was happening anyway, were on Sergeant Mark Agron.

"What is going on?" Marcus growled. Mark held up his hand and turned to the ship, and started walking.

"Don't want to talk about it."

The others followed him, but the chief stayed. He was focusing on something he remembered from what the General had said. No, what it had called him.

"Cortana."

"Yes?"

"Did you hear it call me what I think it called me?"

"Hold on… wait… only- I thought."

"Never mind. It doesn't mean anything."

"But it does! What could it mean if they call you something like this? Does this war have something to do with us after all?"

"Doesn't matter."

He fell silent, and continued to think about that one word, that until now, he had been associated with for almost several years by his former enemy. And then suddenly, in a totally different war, that name arose again, with new impact against him. The Chief had been called… A Demon.

* * *

True. My decision to pull back may not have been best for now, but I assure you, General, that when you have completed your forces in the coming days, it will make no difference. We will take it and learn from it what we can. It holds something. I feel it is necessary to our victory against the humans. If they should learn of its hidden potential, then consequences would be dire.

General, you will send a force, like you said, but remember, our main force will still grow. As they have struck us in the heart, we will show them, Gears, who so fruitlessly try to survive, why they have reason to fear us, why they have reason to hide in their home, like frightened children.

Consider your challenged against the green devil a blessing. Many have faced him, and only few have lived. Now carry on. I will need to sleep, for now. My stamina weakens at the moment. Now, onward to victory.

* * *

Part two is over. Part three begins later this week.

And as promised, one hour after this chapter is released (10:30 am) I will release my next story "The Hellsing War Chronicles" to the fanfiction Database. So, be ready- if you just read this, it might be out already, so check my profile for it!

Thanks for read-

(Elite jumps in room and slashed EZB from behind. Then a Brute walks up to the elite with a Hammer, and slams it down, crashing the room apart. Then Master chief lasers the entire building with a ten feet long Spartan Laser)


	20. Past Visiting

Heya readers! nice to see you again! Part two, or section two is done! So I guess section THREEE is up! This chapter centers around a few things- first off the Gears a bit more. Second- the ship. Thirdly, getting to safety. ('bout time we saw what a Gears head quarter looked like.) Aside from that, there will be more fighting… that I'm hoping for anyway. So, seeya at the end of the chapter!!

* * *

The gears walked back to the ship, all lined up with their groups. The sergeant of either squad in front, leading the conversation as the headed back.

"I don't want to talk about it." Mark said, still moodily as he to keep away from the others.

"We can tell. That doesn't mean we'll accept that as an answer though." Marcus responded, keeping pace with him as he prodded the conversation.

"Be disappointed then. I'm not talkin' about it."

"Anya sounded like she would leave us if you had argued with her just a bit more, so why should we not know about this when it could mean stuck here or getting home?" Dom said as Mark sat down on a piece of the ship that hand fallen off during the fight.

"She's a bitch to me, but only to me. She tell the soldiers to leave me here and pick up everyone else." Mark responded, not looking at anyone, just prodding at his gun as he tried to look distracted. The rest of his squad sat by the wall, or hull of the ship, watching as Delta squad surrounded him.

"You have something for her, don't you?" Baird sneered as Mark's eyes momentarily widened, then fell back to normal size looking away from the others.

"Shut up asswipe."

"Looks lie thads it." Cole said to the others. "Do it now?"

"sure." the others said.

"Wait, what-" before Mark could even finish what he was saying, the others tackled him, shoving him off the piece of hull, and smashing him to the ground. What the hell!?"

"Look for ID, Wallet! Anything!" Dom said as they basically searched him as Mark struggled out, able to get a view of his squadmates, who were watching, wide eyed.

'Guys, help me out here!"

Richard and Howard exchanged glances, unsure of what was happening, or what to do.

"I'm out man." Richard said, his hands up to signal his steadfast neutrality.

"What?!"

"Same here." Howard agreed watching the struggles with interest.

"Carey! Come on man?" Mark pleaded with the darkly man, who responded with a cold look that could have cut steel. "Oh kay…"

"Got something!" Baird shouted, jumping up into the air holding a wallet, and running away to avoid Mark's outstretched hand. Mark shoved off the others and chased after Baird, swearing murderously under his breath. Baird was reaching into his wallet, and seemed to find something, because his eyes widened and his mean smile got wider. Holding something away from Mark, he ran back to Marcus, and quickly threw it at him. Marcus caught it, and Mark chased after Baird, who saw the rage in the man's face, and turned for his life and ran.

"Wow. Baird was close." The other Membes of each squad got close, except the chief, who just came back and walked past them to sit next to the ship.

It was a picture of Mark and Anya, sitting together under a tree. Anya was leaning against Mark while smiling gently, and the now Sergeant was leaning against the tree, a great wide smile on his face as they both smiled at the camera. The picture must have been taken long ago, because they both looked much younger. Anya's hair was longer, close to her waist in length, and Mark had less muscle and darker hair. They looked happier than anyone Marcus had seen in a long time. Well, maybe Cole on several occasions during a fight, but aside from that battle lust, it was hard to top.

"Aww, aint that cute." Cole said, laughing lightly.

"Damn, they do look cute." Marcus stared at Dom, who shrugged. "What, they're at least in their teens, they're ok."

"Give that-" Mark reached over all the others, and retrieved the picture aggressively. "Assholes."

"You two-"

"Yeah, you got something to say?" Mark shouted at them all, who smiled at the anger pounding in his voice. Marcus suddenly realized no one was gloating at his anger, and looked around for Baird. He found him far behind the group that had gathered to see the picture, trying to get back up, bruises up and down his body.

"Hey, what's going on between you two?" Richard stepped forward, getting close to his friend, sounding as casual as he could.

"We… it's a long-"

"We got time." Marcus sat next to him with Dom, as the other squad mates sat next to Richard, excepting Cole who was standing over and laughing at Baird, who swore back angrily to the tall black man.

Mark sighed and thought for a moment, the anger leaving him. "We… were together for a long time." He looked at the picture, which had been ruffled slightly from his grab. "We were your perfect couple. Always happy with each other." He smoothed over the picture and held it up to the light. "but she wanted to help the Gears, like her father did. So she left, and followed."

"So?" Howard asked, looking to the now sad looking Sergeant.

"She joined communications, and I got into infantry." He placed the picture back inside his wallet, right next to his ID. "And we started seeing less and less of each other. And when I was still a private, she helped out group through to a goal sector. Only, she got confused and… we got slaughtered."

"Oh shit." Richard breathed.

"Yeah. she said she didn't know how they weren't warned about incoming mass forces, but…" he changed emotions, back to angry," she was in charge of information! She should have known! My squad, our sergeant, even our backup got completely eradicated!"

"Well that's stupid!" Dom said, looking past Marcus to Mark. "Maybe there was no warning."

"Yeah. There never was. But I was a retarded jackass. I could never accept that something like that should have happened. I was the only survivor. But I lost something."

"What? Your dick?" Baird groaned as he winced his way back, Cole smirking at Mark with encouragement as he did.

"No." Mark stalled for a moment, glanced at Richard, who half-shrugged, half-nodded. With that, Mark rolled up the left sleeve he had under his armor from his shirt up to his shoulder. The skin looked normal, until he pressed against his inner elbow, and the arm gave a hiss, and disconnected.

Midway between his shoulder and elbow, a mechanical attachment had replaced a living left arm. Circuitry and metal acting as a stub from where the arm once had been surprised even Cole, who whistled at the now removed arm. Smiling awkwardly, waving his arm in the air like a display to the others, Mark reattached the arm and nodded.

"We lost a lot." The comment had the others look away, again, unsure of what to comment or reply with. "Being the last survivor and luck enough to beat down a Locust with a broken piece of a two by four, they promoted me."

"I was in another squad when he asked for me to be with Alpha." Richard said, giving Mark time to cool down. "I never knew about this until after I got in. Howard came after along with Carey."

"And I'm just a lucky Sergeant who still feels like he should be a private."

"Don't think about it." Master Chief said from past Marcus and Dom. "You survived for a reason. So fight and live for those who died for you."

The others watched the chief for a moment, and continued to talk.

"I think we got lucky with these squads." Cortana said to the seated man. "They have their own reasons for being here. In their positions, with you."

"Sure."

"Chief? Are you still thinking about it?"

"Yeah." The Spartan would not stop thinking about the word the general had used for his description. Demon. The word the covenant had chosen and used throughout their campaign against the UNSC, or humanity. No one else had ever used that word for him, or let alone come close to using a similar word. It had been robot, cyborg, giant, big-ass-guy. But anything close to devil, or demon had never been heard except by the covenant. It was something so unexpected that it puzzled the Chief past anything he had tried to understand before.

Was it just coincidence? Was it just sheer dumb luck that the general had called him a demon with magic? It had to be. There was no more Covenant; they had been destroyed at the ark, along with just about everything else that had been there. In fact, the Chief was sure that he too was considered dead at earth, being that he never made it through slip-space. And yet there were humans on a planet he never heard of, fighting a race he had not seen or fought against, and they called him demon with the same zealous vigor that the elites, grunts, and brutes had all called him before.

"The chances are just to high. For something like these locust and the covenant to be connected. I just can't-"

"What are the chances?"

"mathematically, I would assume three trillion, five hundred and fifty eight billion, five hundred billion to one. But that's just a rough estimate."

"Sounds more likely than I thought." The Spartan said. He readjusted himself, feeling the ship creak a little. And then he was sure he felt something move in the ship itself. Something hopping. Quickly getting to his feet, he turned to look at the hull. Raising his gun, he fired once, and heard a scream of agony.

"What they-" the others got on their feet too, their guns raised. The bullet holes had crimson liquid flowing slowly out, coloring the grey hull with wretch blood.

"Shit! How could we forget something like that?" each one of the squad members scanned the huge area of the ship's hull. "There could be hundreds in there now!"

"Then it looks like we have something to do after all." Marcus pulled out his shotgun, loaded it, cocked it, and lifted it on his shoulder. "Plan?"

"Sure." Mark added, sounding much less agitated than before. "Small team spread out?"

"right." Dom said.

"Scouting outside?" Richard asked, looking at the various vegetation still around the huge ship.

"I can have the sentinels patrol the ship from all angles to avoid potential ambush or attack." Cortana responded through the intercom. "They can ambush themselves, and when they do, they can do damage."

"Great." Marcus nodded, and let the shotgun fall back into his hands. "Ready to go?"

The others all grunted in response and worked their way to the easiest way up- the same way they did before. Up several slanted pieces of hull to the half torn area and then into the smashed open door Cole had rammed open. As they disappeared, the sentinels flew in, beeping in communication to each other as they scanned the area for any signs of activity. The danger though lurked in the ship, something that even Cortana could not expect to find.

* * *

Hahaha! Another cliffhanger. And more info, I love it I love it I love iiit!! So, what happens next? What else but a suspense filed chapter as the squads and Spartan search the ship to kill off the enemies that lie within. But is that all?? Is there something hiddin within the- (Vegeta from DBZ lands in the room)

Vegeta: Where is Kakarot?

What? (gets smashed from a powerful elbow in the face in slow motion and is sent flying through the walls.)

Vegeta: Kacarot!!

Goku: Vegeta, that's enough. You shouldn't hurt the author like that anyway.

Vegeta: I have found you!!

Goku: (sigh) Fine, lets do this. KAA MEH…

(far of in distance, EZB gets up.) Ow… (house explodes into massive mushroom cloud, and debris pelt him in many directions, including one that produces a nosebleed) Whaaaaaa!?

God damn it! oh well… my house is sure to simply re-appear in the next chapter. See you all again on Monday! And, if you're reading my other new story, go check it out on my web-profile! Second chapter is up now! Seeya!


	21. Dark Halls of Dawn, Part One

The Same opening that the Gears of War Squad Alpha and Delta had used to get into the massive frigate still was open, the door kicked away and still lying far off into the darkness of the hallways. The musty air, still covered with dust particles, flowed softly, like a slow moving stream of old air. The opening itself made the ship look like it had been here for hundreds of years, if not longer.

From the inside of the opening, just from the dark area of the hallway, a faint light could be seen, reflecting into the inside of the ship. The original inhabitant, the Spartan, had climbed up, and was peering inside, his armor banged up and scarred from all the war he had undergone. Yet, it was still good enough to shine brightly.

"See anything?" Mark came up to the Spartan, who had just activated his personal lights, and shone them down the hallway. "Anything?"

The Chief didn't respond, sure that there couldn't be any safe response until they searched the entire ship. He took one light step inside, slowly planting his feet onto the now dirty floor, which as the Spartan looked down, saw it was covered in dirt footprints.

"You want to help us up??" Marcus was struggling to follow with the others, keeping back everyone except Mark, Baird, who had just gotten up, and the Chief. Mark helped the Sergeant up, while Baird made for the darkened hall, only slightly illuminated by the man's visor lights.

"This is going to be a fun little trip." Baird said to himself, looking hard, trying to peer through the darkness.

"Thanks." Marcus finally reached the top, heaving. Finally, the others started to file up after him, each stepping away from the ledge to avoid falling back down or to block the others climb up. Once he had caught his breath, which was the same time everyone had arrived on the ledge, he glanced inside. "Lets head in."

"Then stick close." Mark agreed, raising his weapon to his chest, his eyes glued forward as they walked in.

The area felt the same as it did before, the halls dark, the air thick, and the walls almost silent aside from the occasional creak of the ship. They all had the image of Wretches watching them, all just out of sight and waiting to attack. Even the Chief felt as he once did when confronted by perpetual darkness in tight spaces. Luckily for him, he wasn't anywhere claustrophobic as Carey was.

Even as the other Gears started in, the Sniper was completely hesitant as to walking inside. "I should stay and watch for-"

Before even giving himself a reason, Mark reached back and grabbed him inside grumbling angrily as he did.

"Alright, let's move." Marcus stayed slightly behind the Chief, who illuminated the area easily with the light, but only for about twenty or so feet. "Keep your ears perked. We can't have anything sneak up on us."

"Guys, there's the-" Mark pointed to the crossing hallways, where another passage created a four way directional choice. But what made him stop talking was a sudden movement just out of sight, a hopping into each tunnel direction. "Shit!" he hissed, almost falling back in surprise.

"Great. They've taken residence."

"Not on our ship." the Spartan said to Marcus, as he walked casually up to the cross. As he reached the center, he glanced both all three directions, sure that there was going to be a change of plans. "Looks like we're splitting up." And with that, he slowly started walking forward.

"Hey wait- oh screw it." Mark turned to his squad. "Richard, you and Howard head this way," he pointed to the right hallway," and Carey you go left."

"I'll go with you two." Dom said as he took a right, and at the same time, Baird and Cole started left with Carey hesitantly following them, a slight emotion of anxiety on his face. With that, Marcus and Mark both glanced at each other, then to the light of Master Chief, getting further and further off, and took off after him.

* * *

"Alright, says here we're heading to a stasis area. Whatever that means." Richard said, looking off a sigh on the wall.

"I think it's a medical thing. You get some and-" Howard said, unsure of what was ahead.

"You get in a stasis tube and they freeze you. You can basically stay frozen forever and then be thawed almost any amount of years later." Dom answered, also looking into the dark ahead, scanning for any movement. "I heard it's very advanced in research."

"Maybe this Chief guy is from the future then." Richard said as they came across a turn, and found a blocked door. "Great."

"Hold on a second." Howard walked up, pressing his hand against the metallic blockade. "This shouldn't be hard," he said, turning to the others, and as he turned the door fell back, completely broken off it's hinges. The impact had Howard jump off his feet in surprise.

Richard and Dom stared in surprise. "You that strong?"

"It… must have been broken before- I barely touched it." Howard started walking inside, glancing around. "What…"

"What is it?" Richard asked, then his own mind was puzzled. The room they had just entered was rather large, like a command center, but was circular, and all around the walls were slanted cylindrical tubes, each one open like a hatch, and built like a bed.

"Holy crap. Stasis Tubes." Dom walked up to the closest one, a broken and shattered bed of cold. It had frosted over slightly due to several cracks under the seating, and the glass had been cracked all the way down. "this ship must have gone under one hell of a landing."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Howard walked the other way, just as Richard walked right across the room, to a small panel.

"Says here I can activate lights."

"Go ahead, we could use some." With that Richard pressed a part on the screen, and with a whir, lights flickered, then died.

"Grah… damn. Is this ship supposed to be this screwed up?" Richard pounded on the panel in anger only to have a 'error' sound blare shortly at him. "Shut up." He walked away, going further across the room. "Wonder what these can be used for…" he got up close to one, its glass smashed, and its interior to dark see.

"We have ideas that they can be used for medical treatments. But as a total…" Dom answered for him, in his usual supply of knowledge for their side of the war. But Richard wasn't listening, as he was looking into the glass, sure he saw a face.

"Hey, guys-"

With that, a screeching cry erupted from behind them as a Wretch was standing in the hallway, upright like a deformed ape, its jaw stretched terribly and obscurely. All three Gears turned, just as the stasis glass behind Richard shattered and a Wretch burst forward, attempting to grab hold of Richard, who had ducked and quickly stepped aside.

While all that happened, Howard and Dom wasted no time shooting at the still howling wretch, as it was slowly ripped apart n their barrage of hot metal. The wretch that had jumped out landed and quickly ran away from Richard, who swore aloud and fired blindly behind him as he stumbled back. The Wretch ran around the panel as he found his ground, and target the small beasts body, before shooting it down like the first one had.

"I think we found some." Dom said as he heard more coming down from the hallway. "Get some kind of cover!" He and Howard leaned against the tubes just as Richard got behind the panel. Each one pointed their guns to the entrance the came from. And then Richard noticed as echoes seemed to come from every side of the room- there were four ways into the room.

* * *

"Sounds like someone found something." Carey said briefly, stopping to listen, only to hurriedly follow Baird and Cole.

"Lucky bitches." Cole groaned, turned in the hallway, following the path accordingly.

"Yeah, well don't feel so lucky. Shit like that usually happens to us." Baird said over his shoulder as he led them down the hallway. "Here we are." He stopped at the door which the entire group had entered a day before. The armory. "Think it's time we restocked and reloaded."

"Can't I just stay and shoot anything that comes-" Cole said, almost pleadingly.

"C'mon!"

The three walked in, again glancing around the room at what was still in it. The slightly broken tank, several busted cars and other vehicles were still station on the left side, while the weapons and armaments were on the right, all neatly, or in some broken holsters and holders, not neatly, stacked and piled up, ready for use.

"This is more like it!" Baird held up a Assault rifle to his eyes as he glanced around the general weaponry. His eyes were excited as he scavenged.

"Pick so we can get some action man." Cole sat, and simply reloaded and stocked his guns. As he did, Carey picked up the Sniper from one of the Holders, testing its scope. To his surprise, it had an excellent night vision scope as well. We was able to look at the darkened massive room easily, taking in every feature.

A loud clang sounded from the entrance, and all the spun, or in Cole's case got up, and faced the area. A small piece of metal plating seemed to have fallen out from near the door, and was rocking back and forth on the floor.

"Shit!" Baird lowered his rifle, felling his heart beat against his ribcage, and his armor. "I hate this kinda shit in work."

Carey wasn't satisfied with a coincidence. Even though it was likely that in this broken ship that pieces of it were bound to fall off or collapse, in this situation, it didn't seem likely. He got up and walked to the center of the room, each step echoing, as he glanced around. The Shadows seemed infinite as he reached the center. The only light was that from the faint glow of the Armor they all wore.

He heard a faint rustle. Whipping to his left, he saw by the tank a piece of glass skidding across the floor. "We aren't alone."

"What?" Baird asked angrily as he got up from stocking bullets, just as Cole rushed up eagerly to find any enemy to shoot down. "Where?"

Carey couldn't answer yet. He was scanning around the wreckages of the many vehicles, now able to see many still wretches in, and behind them. There couldn't be that many of them, close to fifteen…

A rustle had them all look up, their guns drawn to the source. Something was high above them in the ceilings. And it slowly moved into the light. Two Wretches sniffed the air, as the looked down at the Gears below them.

"How many?" Baird asked again, looked up at the two, now three wretches above them. Carey's eyes had widened as he scoped the darkness above them. There was a ledge just above them, slightly below the very top ceiling. He was circling around slowly, looking through the scope, his mouth slowly opening as he did. Above them, it seemed countless amounts of Wretches were all watching them, hopping slightly in anticipation to when they would attack.

"We're completely surrounded." And with that Carey ran for the Armament, forcing the other two to follow him. Several of the wretches screamed their howls, having the area echo and amplify the volume to a point where the Gears thought they might go deaf if it lasted.

"Get what weapons you can!" Baird screamed above the noise, as he lifted up a second gun, now holding two in each arm.

"YEAH!" Cole had reached a 'Heavy Weapons' holder, found a mounted turret, and easily lifted it on his shoulder without breaking it off, and carried it back to the center with Baird. Carey quickly got as many grenades as he could, including several glowing orange ones, spiked, and blue. He didn't care, just as long as they exploded. Cole slammed the turret on the ground, facing the vehicles, and shouted," Bring on the pain suckas!" With that, he started the mini-gun, and it spun, unleashing a hellish rain of bullets.

Baird was behind him, watching the walls as Wretches started climbing down the walls. Growling with the strain to support two assault rifles, he took loose aim on one section of wall, and shouted like Cole as he pulled both triggers, having huge force push him against the giant black man currently destroying the left side of the armory.

Meanwhile, Carey was sniping as quickly and accurately as he could simultaneously while up against the backs of both Cole and Baird. Aiming for those still on that ledge near the ceiling, he used the night scope to easily pin-point the Wretches he found, hitting each one perfectly in the head. Several occasionally made it down the wall close to him, and each time he found the use of the grenade he used. Orange were fire bombs, spike were spikes, and blue just were plain big and nasty, and he was sure he saw one get stuck on a wretch before blowing it to bits.

Fortunately the Gears had vastly over-estimated the numbers of the Wretches to their firepower. The amount of destruction they were causing to amount present was way over the chart of carnage. The wretches certainly noticed this before they did, as they slowly seemed to start disappearing from their views.

"That aww don't run away!" Cole started to glance around for his target. Baird too eyed the area, as the Wretches seemed to have completely vanished.

"I don't see anything…"

"Up." Carey pointed up to a darker spot on the ledge. And small shadowy figures started to disappear in its abyss. With that, Carey lifted his hand up to his ear and communications.

* * *

"Sergeant."

Mark recognized the voice of Carey, and responded. "What's going on?" Marcus and the Chief both stopped to turn to him, listening. "We're hearing bullets all over the place, but it sounds like a war is going on already."

"They're using the ventilation sir."

"What?" Marcus said, and as he did, a piece of the ceiling fell ahead of them all, having them all turn to see it completely clatter on the floor, and shuffling of wretches could be heard in the small, dark path above them. Master Chief quickly fired off several rounds into the ceiling before stopping, not hearing the shuffling nearby. "They could be everywhere then…"

"I'll check engineering." The Chief said calmly, continuing to walk down the dark path.

"right… we'll just check on the others then." Mark said awkwardly, watching the tall figure leave them in the dark.

The chief had started to walk down a set of long stairs, having him go deeper and deeper into the ship. He wasn't even sure how far he was until he got to the bottom, and the hallway directed him left. There, in obvious sight, was a wretch. But the Chief raised his gun, he noticed something odd.

"Chief?" Cortana asked, puzzled at the lack of action aside from caution.

"It… it's shaking." The wretch, several meters away was shaking, having pushed itself up against the wall, and seemed to be standing away from the one door labeled 'engineering'. Even as the chief walked past it, it did little to respond, let alone move itself. "This is engineering."

He placed his hand against the door, and pushed. It didn't budge. It didn't even groan. He pushed harder, and it still didn't move. Even after he kicked it forcefully, it did little to move.

"this can't be right… these doors- you could easily knock them back… but they haven't moved." Cortana was more puzzled than he was.

But he had something that she didn't. A hidden sense. A sense that people get at times when they can tell something is wrong, but cannot tell what. He was anxious. The master Chief felt like something was wrong here. Suddenly, the wretch growled and jumped up at him, and before it ever reached him, the chief smashed it down with a back hand punch, resulting in it smashing into the wall, and stopping its movement all together.

With the distraction gone, he turned back to face the still jammed door. Something told him, even though he was supposed to search the entire ship, that he didn't want to go in this room.

To be Continued…

* * *

That's right OMG a TBC because I am shit-tossed-tired. Still recovering, but I now think I got my creativity back. YAY.

But because I'm late as crap for this chapter, and let alone breaking continuity for the side-story, I deserve a well earned slap. Chuck Norris, if you would please.

(Chuck Norris walks in the room, and back hand slaps him, having EZB go flying through the wall and out into the sunset.


	22. Dark Halls of Dawn, Part Two

"Great. Which way?" both Sergeants stood, at the same intersection of hallways they had been at before. Rather though the only thing that gave them a clue on where to go was the original entrance from which light bled out and into the dark hallways. Mark currently looked to his right, leading into the same kind of dark the other hallway had. Marcus stood in the center, looking down each one.

"Chief's back there, and either group is down there." He said to himself, unsure of what to do. They had already tried to contact the others, but still where unable to get in radio contact.

"Split up?" Mark said, looking over his shoulder to Marcus. "I'll take this hallway."

"Alright. I'll head this way, see what I can find of them. See if you can get into contact."

"Kay." With that, they both started in opposite directions.

Mark walked down a dark path, only able to avoid having himself smack against the wall from the faint glow of his armor. Even with the blue line that he had, it was still a improvisation walk. He had a hard enough time trying to keep his trigger finger cool enough to not fill the walls with bullet holes in case of Wretches.

A quiet patter behind had his eyes open. Without looking behind him, he could tell that one had decided to chase him. Would it quietly follow him until it found a perfect moment to attack? Would it simply scream and announce hordes of similar creatures to attack the long Sergeant.

It seemed to be hobbling to him as he walked down, trying to wait for the moment. It was quiet, but it was also quiet obvious that the animal had no intention of trying to be quiet; its snarling and growling grew louder and louder as it hobbled closer and closer. At one point he was sure it was right behind him, but the expert trained soldier knew that the walls were projecting the snarling to be much louder than it really was.

At one point he felt it presence. It was only feet behind and had already leapt.

With what could have been expert timing or sheer luck, he turned to his left, avoiding the attack and also turning completely, keeping his cool the entire time, also following the small beast as it soared past him, crashing a little further down. And it snarled, and charged back at him. but he now had already won.

Revving up his chainsaw on the Lancer Assault Rifle, Mark Agron growled and eventually shouted a battle cry as he charged at the small Wretch; it again jumped and he lifted the gun above his head, and swung down. The strike easily sliced the animal in two, having either side of it's now dead corpse fly by either side and past him, landing sloppily past him.

"Piece of shit." He wiped the blood that had gotten on his clothing and armor off slightly, either flicking it off his glove or smearing it on the wall, groaning in disgust at the smell it emanated.

The thing he had never understood about Locust, alike most of humanity, was it's power system. He and many obviously assumed that the larger or tougher the beast, the higher the status in its 'hive', like any sort of animal in the universe. Yet, the locust were certainly intelligent enough to have their own fights and their own identities. But they still behaved like worker bee's, doing exactly what they were told, even if that meant certain death.

But Wretches seemed different. Intelligence seemed hard to detect; they did littler than simply dodging bullets and attacking people by ambush and stalking methods, which can be observed through almost any sort of expert predatory animal. Wretches seemed to have little to distinct themselves from one another unlike the Locust who actually have been observed with personalities. How did they work together?

Like other animals, Corpsers, Seeders, Brumaks, the Locust somehow uses these beasts like any other soldier. The question is essentially how and when? The armies, animals and humanoids alike, had not been detected before on Sera. Enter Locust, enter all the above, except Kryll, which had always been a threat in non-populated areas.

Mark always pondered it when he had the time, and walking through the hallways, he seemed to think that then was the time. For him, it all boiled down to a simple question: why was this war going on in the first place?

In a way, it was trivial. He was a soldier and was told to kill and fight and that was what he did.

* * *

Marcus walked down the hall he had chosen, his eyes peeled, his ears perked, his gun ready, and his body sweating. He thought that it was lucky enough that they hadn't run into Kryll that had taken refuge inside the structure yet, but aside from that threat, Wretches in dark always had him on his toes.

He imagined that something always lurked in the dark. It had always been with him- a sense of always being watched, being hated by the enemy, being targeted from the corner of his vision. It had been with him since the start, since it all began. Marcus supposed that it was military training always telling him to watch his back, but he felt it ran deeper than simple command experience.

At least nothing was charging at him now. He was walking, reflecting, and now not really paying attention. At least he wasn't until he heard a Wretch's scream. Wrenched back to reality, he raised his gun up, looking forward, sure that was the direction it came from.

Nothing sounded except his own quiet breathing. Even as he walked slowly closer to a turn in the hallway, he leant against the surface, ready to jump out and see what was waiting. He took a breath… and jumped out, his gun ready and lowered.

"RUN RUN RUN!!" Richard, Dom, and Howard were all running, each with their guns at their sides from a massive swarm of Wretches behind them.

"Hey!!" Marcus screamed, as he too turned and ran for it, now worried of the stampede behind him. the simple vibrations of the riot behind them all was causing the ship to tremble.

"We- we thought we beat them back, then a huge amount just started swarming in one direction, so-"

"We RAN!" Richard finished for Dom, running wildly, his arms almost flailing comically as he ran from the mass of Locust behind them. "Where's Mark!?"

"He went the other direction- I guess to where Cole and Baird are!" Marcus responded shouting forward and loudly enough to have them hear it over all the noise.

"What about the Chief!?"

"He told us to head back to you guys- not sure if that was a good idea or not!" Marcus shouted again, this time to reply to Howard.

"Since when did you two listen to him over yourselves?"

"Since he was seven feet tall and to badass to argue with!"

* * *

Mark heard rumbling. At first he was sure the lights would flick on. A second later it sounded more like thunder. Then a stampede of some sorts. Turning quickly both directions, he wildly guessed the direction from where the noise would come from. Eventually he heard someone behind him from where he had killed the Wretch, skidding from the turn of the hallway.

There, as he turned, he saw Marcus, Dom, Richard, and Howard all running pell-mell down the hallway, each one panting as they went.

"Guys?" they quickly passed him and he watched them do so. "What's going-" turning around, he saw a mass of hissing, screaming, growling Wretches coming at him. "Oh MY **GOD**!!" he immediately turned, screaming after the others, his hands above his head.

"Nice to see you again Sir!" Howard shouted cheerily from ahead of him.

Catching up with the others, Marcus spotted an open door. "There! Head in there!"

From inside, Cole, Baird, and Carey had already prepared the guns again. As the Gears who had been running for their lives spilled into the room, they each ran for the sides, seeing the guns directly aimed for the doors. Cole had torn off a huge chain gun and was carrying it with two hands, smiling fiercely as Baird had two rifles on a crate, supported and glaring angrily, just as Carey Behind them both pointed his rifle at the entrance.

"Yeah! Bring it on suckas, This-" the rumbling got louder," is-" The other gears had gotten far enough away to be safe from gun fire," my KINDA," Wretches began to pour in," SHIITT!!" and with that, the trio unleashed hell.

The wretches caught directly in the fire initially were almost completely annihilated. The gunfire from two lancers, a full powered portable mounted gun, and a high powered sniper was causing enough damage that floor and wall surrounding the door were beginning to disappear. They sill were pouring in. Even as the gunfire continued, and was joined by the others, Wretches were beginning to get through and climb on the walls, getting height.

"Back it up!" Marcus screamed, waving his hand back, signaling their retreat into the center of the massive armory. They still aimed for the doorway, or massive bullet hole, but wretches were now regularly pouring out and onto the walls, and now ceiling.

"Up high!" Dom raised his gun with three others, and shot to the small animals now clinging on the ceiling like magnets and scattering around to avoid gunfire but still to get to them. Some now were running on the floors, and the group was separating. Even as Marcus dropped a grenade at one particular cluster of Wretches, and then ducked slightly as the exploded, one wretch jumped through the cloud of dust and slammed into Marcus, smashing him onto the floor. He struggled from keeping it's claws away from his face or body, punching it repeatedly to have it constantly knocked back. It kept climbing back no him, trying to claw away at his armor and then skin.

"Marcus!!" Dom came running by, blasting just above the Sergeant's body, blowing away the mad creature. "Come on, move!" quickly extending a hand, and pulled him up just in time to avoid yet another wretch from slamming at the two.

"Get- BACK!" Howard had one in his clutches, and tossed it back, just as he picked his gun back up and shot the beast dead while it struggled to get on its feet. Three more came up as a grenade blew them to pieces, and Mark ran by, grabbing Howard by the shoulder and shoving him back, just in time to turn and slash at one, two, three Wretches with his rifle. "Thank you sir!"

"Just back me up, I got a dumb ass plan, so I need some cover fire!" With that, he ran full forward, running to several containers labeled 'explosives' with Howard running behind him.

Mark was getting closer. A wretch got in his way, and jumped at him. He spun, whipping the blades of the chainsaw around as he did, slashing as it soared past him, and the blades fell behind him and slashed it's back apart. Howard quickly dispatched two that would have clawed apart his Sergeant, and then fell over, the blood glistening the floor acting as a slippery surface. He got up just in time to shoot away a group of wretches that were hobbling at him. But his sergeant had gotten much further. Almost there.

And just as he did, a wretch caught him by the ankle, and he fell against the box, knocking it over, and having it's strange weapon spill out. As he beat back the wretch, he struggled to crawl to the weapon, which seemed to have a tank on it of some sort. He got close, reaching out for it.

Then a loud stomp on the other side of the gun had him stop, his eyes wide. Slowly raising them up, he saw that the foot belonged to a huge figure of seven feet and shining green armor. Master chief had arrived, jumping form a hole in the ceiling.

"Thanks." He reached down and pulled the flamethrower up to himself, and ignited the lighter, turning slowly to the majority of enemies. "This will be over soon." Slowly the chief walked up to the hobbling mass of enemies, even as gears on either side ran back and behind the chief. Each stepped seemed to take seconds to take, and each step echoed. The only sound he could hear was that of his footsteps, loud and heavy. Finally, he stopped, the world seemed to have slowed to a point of which everything had stopped.

"Cortana-"

"I'm still here. Show them," the chief aimed the end of the flame machine to the wretches," how to cook."

With that, he activated the gas release, and a roar of fire, light and heat burst out, smashing into the huge swarm of Wretches, who at close proximity were burnt to cinders. The Chief knew that this weapon could disarm vehicles quickly and personnel even quicker. These small, unarmed and hardly armored creatures didn't stand a chance. They were like small flood pods, each in almost uncountable number, yet easy to kill. The flame had almost everything stop what they were doing, and turn to see the light.

"Holy shit." Baird said, his eyes gleaming with fascination form the machine. "I want one of those."

The chief started the flame thrower up again, blasting more and more Locust with super-heated napalm spray. Even those that survived had it stuck to them, and they ran widely, screaming in pain as the heat ate away at their skin. And if they got too close to another one, the flame would spread. It only took a little while before most of the Locust were aflame, one huge burning heap of bodies.

The Gears watched, stunned. The Spartan, renewed in their eyes as a lord of war, walked from the flames, and tossed the flamethrower aside. The remaining wretches were running, actually whimpering as they scattered away. The flames gave the chief a deadly image. He walked away, cool, and completely unshaken by the fact that he, with a single weapon had practically erased an entire force of wretches.

"You sure you're not an alien?" Mark asked again, smiling at the accomplishment.

"Pretty sure." he responded, nodding. He had caught the sarcasm in his voice, and for the first time, felt like this group was on more than speaking terms with him.

"That weapon… I'll be right back!" Baird ran off the retrieve the flamethrower, dead curious on it's blueprints and how to make them. "I've got to see this thing!"

"What was that exactly?" Marcus asked, shaken by it's sheer ability to incinerate that much so quickly.

"M7057 Defoliant Projector."

"That's amazing!" Baird shouted back at them, apparently understanding what that was."

"Translation?" Mark asked, eyes still in shock at the amount of light and heat it had produced. "I don't speak in complex sentences, only words and phrases anyone under the age of fifteen can understand."

"Flamethrower." The Chief finished as Baird brought it back over to them, struggling with its sheer weight. The others watched, simply amazed with what the man always seemed able to do in these situations. This man seemed to always have a simple solution for everything they had come up against so far. Shields, cars, and now flame throwers. He was a walking arsenal of destruction, and their ally.

"What about the wretches still out there?" Dom asked, looking back at the almost completely destroyed doorway and floor along with the smoking body of dead wretches. "They will come back eventually."

"Then," Cortana said, as she had been waiting for such a question," we should head for the control panel, and see if this fallen angel can still talk in radio."

* * *

AHAHAH it's done muhahhah… Oh man that took like four straight hours to do. But as it went along, it got better I think, I really started to like the battle at the end. What you guys think? Intense or what? Huu? Huuu?

Well anyway, I recommend you review and then read my other story, being that it will also have an undated chapter on it- AWESOME.

Chuck Norris: So, are you ready to write again, EZB?

Yeah, thanks for stopping by Chuck.

Chuck Norris: (walking away, giving a thumbs up) no problem!

Oh, wait before you go… (points to the cheek) could you do it once more for the readers?

Chuck Norris: Sure. Here you go. (back-hand slaps him again, having him soar out of the ceiling and into the clouds.)


	23. Dark Halls of Dawn, Part Three

The destroyed wall creaked as the group walked around it. The smell of many dead, burnt wretches, smelling like burning plastic, reeked in the entire area, clouding their very breaths as they walked around what destruction they had caused, trying not to add to the damage.

"These things sure pack a punch." Mark said, looking down one particular hole that led to the floor below, it having been created during the fight. "He must have been in a war recently if this ship has this much firepower in one room."

"Sounds right, and considering what we've seen about him, he probably lives for war." Marcus added, watching the Spartan walk easily over the holes, just jumping over them and landing heavily in the hall they had come from.

"I wonder if they know I can hear them." Cortana said, only to the chief, he mentally smiled. This kind of attention he was used to, and the simple fight he always fought seemed to impress the even experienced soldier to the point of rumors.

"Where's this bridge exactly?" Baird said, looking both directions of the hall, unsure of the remaining wretches that still could lurk in the dark. "Why're we leaving this place for some bridge again?"

"Communications still may work. It's not the main bridge, but the secondary one does work to the point of being able to substitute for the first if it should have been destroyed." Cortana explained again using their speaker system.

"So, we're calling in evac?"

"Yeah." Master chief walked past them, turning left and into the still unexplored hallway.

"Sounds good." Dom said, nodding approvingly at the idea of getting out of here for a day.

"Wait-" Richard started up, slowing down to think," are you saying we had a means of communication in this place, but never used it??"

"You never asked." The chief responded, turning briefly to shrug, then turning away and continuing his stride down the hallway. Richard's mouth hung open, until Howard spotted him still rooted to the spot, and closed his mouth. This spurred him back to life and he ran after the others.

"Besides, if we had stayed the kryll would have had a feast here." Marcus added, still walking.

Then, a very scary thought that should have been already expressed flashed into his mind. Something they should have thought about before. Something so obvious and clear that they may have been dead long before they ever thought of going to the bridge. This ship had been here for days, about two before they ever got here in the first place, and that gave it enough time to become a haven for Kryll. The many dark, confined spaces, the corridors, the rooms, the vents; they could all harbor hundreds of Kryll.

"Dom." Marcus whispered. His friend moved closer, looking at the concerned face of Marcus.

"What?"

"Did you think of the possibility of Kryll taking a rest here, and that we may be walking into a huge nest of them?"

"…shit, no. But we haven't run into any, right?"

Marcus stepped over a wire that had long ago fallen from the ceiling. "Yeah, I noticed. But this has everything for a kryll nest- darkness, closed spaces, easy routes to get around; why wouldn't they just fly in and make themselves home?"

"Don't know. It's weird man."

Ahead of them, the chief was listening, and he thought he knew why Kyrll would not make this place home. The feeling he had when he went down to engineering and the blocked door, and the cowering wretch, it seemed to bode something that he could not explain. Something dangerous, dangerous enough to scare away locust- who so far had not shown a speck of fear in their pursuit of destroying anything that humans were or made.

"Chief, turn here." Cortana reminded him, as he almost missed a turn that on the side of the wall clearly read, 'emergency bridge'. Shaking his head, he turned, and found himself again in a dark hallway.

The group seemed to be walking through a maze of corridors and hallways that lasted forever. Rather they would turn every other intersection, following the sign of emergency bridge on the walls, they kept walking, seldom talking aside for the occasional question or statement.

An hour later, or what felt like an hour later, they came across another door similar to the one Cole had knocked down when they first arrived. It looked heavy and thick enough to take a lot of firepower against it.

"Chief, get me to the panel." To the right, a small outlet of a computer panel stuck out by a half a foot, and he walked to it, grabbing the chip in the back of his helmet, pulled it out, and placed it near the panel, and in the computer image, she walked off and onto the panel. "Lets hope this works." She moved her hands, and small screens, each looking slightly damaged with cracks and bends in the flat screen they seemed to be. "It's… chief, give it a punch would you?"

He turned quickly and hit it hard enough for the walls to echo with the force.

"Whoa." Richard gasped at the force that vibrated past him.

"Good, now it should work."

As son as she said it, the door creaked, and began to pull to the side of the wall, but slowly and jerkily, as if caught on something. Slowly, and now crying of scraping metal, the door pulled out of sight and allowed them t see the inner room.

Once the chief had retrieved Cortana, he started in, and the others followed. The room was built like a bunker. The wall surrounding them was perfectly circular, becoming a dome at the top of the ceiling and flat screen panels, which on normal circumstances would have displayed information on ship statistics and surrounding area, now simply black and several cracked. The center of the room had three chairs, each with a circular panel surrounding it, aside from a small section taken away to allow a member access.

"Wow. So does anything in here work?" Baird asked, going for the central platform, and touching the darkened screen.

"Perhaps. I need to get over there." The chief walked over to the same place Baird was, and stood, lowering his hand and Cortana to the surface. "Lets hope this works…"

After a moment, the same whirring sound that they had heard a day before started up again, more prominent this time around, and louder. Seconds later, light flashed from the ceiling and the screens across the walls blinked black light, and then started displaying command codes as they rose on the screen, each one being checked.

"Looks like we're in business." Marcus pointed out as the panels then too burst into life, glowing faintly in the now illuminated room.

"Can we get a signal?" The Spartan asked the Ai, as she turned to look at him, and then turn back to access something.

"Lets find out. Signal can… yes, we can receive and transmit radio signals."

"Great, I'll take over." Baird stepped up and somehow knowing what the panel read, he started typing in something, looking over his work and eventually nodding in approval. "We're requesting access to air chat."

"Alright, how long-" Marcus began, only to stop as static and the familiar sound of Black Raven helicopter poilot sounded through the room.

"This is Raven- 163, responding to request for air channel clearance. Access code checks out, respond, over."

"This is Marcus Fenix, Sergeant of Alpha squad. We need evac on location Fv-7, over."

There was a brief pause, only to herald the return of the same voice. "Roger that, Coronal Hoffman sent us out to pick you guys up. We're on our way, ETA twenty minutes. You all better have a clear landing zone or we're finding a distance place to land, over."

"You aren't fitted with armaments-"

"two Ravens and twenty cogs are coming you way for support, but we need a safe place to land, get to it sit! Out."

"Copy… that." He looked to the others, unsure of what to make of it. "I guess we're going out side and then we're getting a ride out of here. Anyone want to stay behind and sight see?"

* * *

Ugh, my bad guys. This is one of my shortest chapters out there, and not much happens, but so much shit is going on that I just couldn't find any time to write it, in fact, I wrote this all today (Sunday) from 11-1. so, my bad guys, really sorry for being late. I will contact chuck Norris and have him punish me with Alucard.

And the news gets even better. (sarcasm)

Last minute note, this will be the last chapter in over a month, or until school ends. Both stories are going to have to be put on halt so I can put all effort into passing my harsh-ass school so I don't have to worry on exams and shit like that. Really sorry for breaking it like this guys, but I need more time to study so I have a computer to even work on! So, that also means I want you all to review. Each one of you, I do mean YOU reader, I want you to take about one minute to respond to this, being that it's my last time to post anything until June. So, until I return, I want to thank each one of you guys for this stuff! Each time I read a review or stats on views, it makes every minute of every hour spent on this worth it! So, give your contribution (review, lol) to this awesome thing we've made, and thanks for reading guys!

EZB


	24. Spartan Vs Berserker

The dense jungle surrounded something alien to the landscape. The ship Dawn laid still, torn in half yet still undamaged enough so it could be recognizable. Grey, black in its burnt, scarred areas, and in other places still alive with new color and lights that had come on recently. The ship, after being torn in half and smashed into another planet, was still breathing.

A large piece of vine collapsed fell from the ship. Following it, the chief descended, landing almost twenty feet from the side of the semi-buried structure. The impact had him get no his knees, his hands on the ground, and displaced the earth in such a shock to the ground.

Slowly getting up, the other Gears climbed down the ship. Each one following the path chosen by the leading, making it seem as if a strange, multi-sized millipede was climbing down the side. The first down was Carey, who breathed happily with the idea that he no longer had to deal with the spaces of this ship above him.

While the others climbed down, the Spartan had walked away, scanning the area. Dense jungle still surrounded them. The perfect kind of place for an ambush of the Locust, or an ambush from anyone.

"Just my… kind of day, hu?" Richard said, leaping down from the climb, narrowly avoiding Marcus who had also gotten down. "Sorry. Let's see- we get assigned to check out a fallen object-"

"He find locust and then the Chief-" added Dom.

"Then a run in the dark with a million Kryll-" Baird added, still resenting the time in the sewers.

"Then we find the ship," Marcus added, staring up at the massive structure which apparently could once fly," and then leave with the cars."

"One night with strandeds and a trek back, we are in the same place we got to." Mark summed up. "So we just went around the circuit twice. At least we got a work out."

"Nah, man. We got more than that. We got ourselves a Locust Barbeque!" Cole stated, sounding envious of the event. "I need to try that out!"

"Sounds like something we could do, right?" Dom responded, looking to Marcus for some kind of response.

The Sergeant was staring into the jungle.

"Marcus?"

"Yeah?" the grizzled friend turned, the stubble shinning with sweat. "What?"

"The… what is it?" Dom clearly saw a look in his face. Anxiety. He too peered into the jungle, and then he knew what was causing his friend to look like he did. Luckily for those who can survive long enough in a war, many have talked about having a sense of fear, or paranoia grow, not being able to tell what is war and what is not. But in the field of battle, this sense was a blessing.

Dom felt like they were being watched.

The chief could feel it too. Peering into the thick undergrowth of the hot jungle, he could swear that something was moving around, just out of sight. His vision was good, considering his alterations of his physiological structure, but it was almost impossible to see that far in.

And without warning, he didn't need to.

His radar went off. A small red circle was just on the edge of the sphere of detection. It wasn't moving but, it was clearly Locust. The light-a.i. inside his suit would have made sure it recognized locust as enemies by now. He decided by now it was a good idea to tell the others. He turned and started walking.

And as he did, the signal flashed, and started moving to them. Stopping, and slowly turning for the direction, he checked the radar again. Two more red circles appeared. Then five larger ones. Ten. Behind the smallest, it seemed like an endless march of bright crimson.

"Chief… chief!" Cortana had noticed too; being silent while monitoring the movement. "Get to the others!" Not wasting anytime before turning to the others, he pulled out the large circular object he had picked up from the armory before leaving, and tossed it by the jungle edge. Turning and running for the others, the land mine beeped and activated, a death sentence to anyone who would step on it.

"I don't see- chief?" Baird stopped and stepped back as the massive figure stopped just a foot from running into them all. "Watch it!"

"We have company."

"What?!" Marcus turned, and by now, movement was visible, past the lining of forest, fifty meters away from them. "Great- take cover and load it up!" He motioned for them to get behind several objects- a fallen tree, still intact enough for cover, a large chuck of the ship that had become a second wall, and a small portion of ground that had been blasted away, become a small bunker of a ditch. The Chief, Mark and Cole ran for the large section taken off the ship, Marcus and Howard ran for the fallen tree, leaving Richard, Carey, Baird, and Dom to take cover in the large trench.

"Here they come!"

"Bring the pain man!"

Just as the leaves on the outside shook, three wretches jumped out of the brush, in mid air, avoiding the well-placed mine just under them. Once they landed, one reared up, getting almost four feet, and cried its terrible high pitch shriek, signaling the actual attack. Then the grubs started running through.

Before a single Gear could even fire, a massive explosion shook the ground, sending dirt, torn wood and bodies over a hundred feet into the air, nearing the top of some trees. The grubs had been blasted to pieces and the wretches seemed in shock, squirming on the ground from the sheer blast. The mine, as the dirt settled back down, falling like solid rain, had cleared a diameter of forest about ten meters around.

"Use grenades!" Mark called, placing his Lancer rifle down for the moment. Following his movements, the others too pulled out the spiked fragmentation grenades, and tossed them at the forest lining. Just as they did, a swarm of Grubs began their charge. The Gears all took cover, as grubs slowed and began their shooting at all the targets.

Even with the bullets raging at them, silence seemed to surround them as the three second count passed in their heads.

Three.

Two.

One.

The blast that shook the ground was far more powerful than the first, actually having the ship itself groan with the blast. The surprised cry of grubs could not overlap the sheer blast that was the explosion of nine grenades all tossed simultaneously. After a momentary pause however, they all crept back to see the damaged caused.

"Damn." Mark gasped. The dirt was still falling, but the damage was easily seen. They had made three new trenches, and the forest line had been moved back by five more meters. Past this, they couldn't see.

"We got them!" Mark shouted, turning to the chief, who was still staring at the forest. "Right?"

Master Chief couldn't respond. On his radar system, the red was still there, and a new, larger dot had appeared, just behind the others. "They aren't dead yet."

Even as the dust cleared, more locust walked out of the forest lining, calmly. Their guns though weren't raised however. They were snarling, and one group of the line parted. This welcomed the howl. The shaking of the ground this time wasn't from the explosions of grenades, but of something bigger. And it was charging at them.

"Berserker!"

"OH great!"

The shiny skinned monster over twelve feet tall, charged out of the forest, not noticing the two grubs it took out as it charged. It ran right for the piece of ship that protected the Chief, Cole and Mark. And easily ran past the four in the semi-trench, and apparently never saw the fallen log.

"Da'h shit man!" Cole jumped out of the way before it happened, just as the chief did. Mark had no where to go.

"Sergeant!" Howard called, seeing what was going to happen.

Groaning metal and more noise from the ship; the Berserker had not only hit the small wall, but crashed into the ship and past it's hull. Mark, being caught by the side, was tossed far to the right, flying to Marcus and Howard. Smashing into a piece of the ship, he stopped, and landed harshly on the ground, not moving.

"No!" Richard, totally ignoring the gunfire behind him, left his protective cover and darted for the very still leader of Alpha squad. "Mark!"

The chief heard the beast inside the ship roar again, just as the gunfire started up from the grubs, who now took positions in the newly formed trenches. If the monster was allowed to continue its path of destruction, they would all die for sure. He glanced to Marcus, who returned to glance.

"Go! We can take care of grubs, but not if they have a Berserker with them!"

The chief nodded, and ran for the newly formed entrance of the ship, tossing his gun aside.

"Chief, I think you might need that." Cortana advised him, concerned about his behavior.

"No. This thing can take gunfire."

"Then how-"

"Trust me."

Finally, he saw it, getting up, apparently having tripped over on something that had a little more resistance than it had planned. It had gotten up however, and now was staring at him, readying its charge.

"I hope this thing doesn't know how heavy you are!" Cortana shouted just as it ran, running full speed for him. The chief yelled, actually yelled and ran for it as well. The ground, or metal hall beneath them shaking from the sheer force rumbling closer to one another. Closer and closer, until he leapt up, his right hand held back, and just as they were about to collide, he sent it ahead, the force of 1000 pounds, running at twenty miles per hour, brought down on the beast's chest in a single punch.

The monster had never felt such a force retaliate. The Berserker was lifted up, actually thrown off its feet and tossed twenty feet back, into a wall, where it crashed through and into the next hallway. The beast hadn't been harmed however, just put into shock- the concept of flight had never been introduced to it. But it again got up, and charged again, not giving the chief a moment to recover.

It was his turn to fly. The Spartan soared back, smashed into a large panel, which cracked like rotten wood and sparked like live wires as it stopped him. "Ow."

Again it charged, but he was ready. He leapt up, and just as it passed underneath him, he grabbed a plasma grenade, threw it on the back of its head, and leapt away from it.

The blue light that burst from behind him told him it had exploded, along with the creatures angered cry. But, turning to see the damage, he was shocked to see it was still up, alive, and even angrier. Rather than having any piece of it's flesh missing, it's skin looked heated, and slightly melted like lead or steel. A plasma grenade, which could easily kill several Spartans in one hit, barely scratched the Berserker.

"Chief, was that your plan?"

"Uh… yeah."

The creature howled again and charged, running for him yet again, regardless of the small injury. Chief stood his ground, and just as it reached him, he rolled to his right, dodging the attack, and then back-kicked it where it's spine should have been. It tripped, and sprawled on the floor, but again got up, just breathing angrily.

The chief thought of something else. This thing was essentially a massive bull. It was alive though, so it had a weakness. It had to. So far though, it seemed impenetrable. Bullets, let alone plasma grenades, couldn't touch it. Was there a way to kill this with what they had?

And the answer came to him, and was so simple.

He ran at it just as it ran at him. He wouldn't dodge it though. He would attack it, just as he did before. But now he had a target. Some place that was weaker than the rest of the body. Again they closed space, and he jumped again, but rather than stay upright, he lifted both feet, tucked them together, and pointed them for its face. And with that, he kicked the Berserkers head with all his force.

He wasn't sure he heard a sickening crack. Or a sudden cry. Or groaning of metal. But he did hear it crash. It had flipped over, the imbalance of it's stance when he kicked it had it fly off it's feet and crash again.

This time, it was not moving. He had broken what little neck it had.

"Cortana, you might want to send the remaining sentries to help them."

Outside, the war still raged. Howard was watching Mark, still unconscious while Richard had started slaughtering any grub that came too close to him. Cole had found another cover- a large boulder, and was struggling to fight back a grub that had tried to sneak up on him. They were locked in a battle of chainsaw on chainsaw, sparks flying.

The trench had trouble from the beginning, as constantly grubs would jump in and attempt to throttle them. While Carey would easily kill those from range, Dom was the one to handle close combats with his shotgun.

"Look!" Baird shouted in surprise

The Sentinels had arrived. And like Cortana said, they were brining their pain.

The small band of flying robots started their descent, not gaining the attention of the grubs. At least not until they shot their beams of energy, which started to burn the large masses of locust. One particular shot hit an armed grenade, and caused it to blow up in the locust's hands.

With that, not only where the grubs confused, but shocked. There was no knowledge of humans having this sort of technology that could attack back. And to add to the day's getting better, noise suddenly erupted over the trees, as three black ravens shot past, over the ship, circled around, and joined the fight.

To be continued.

* * *

HEhehehe. Ahh the true power of the chief and the world from which he comes. Like a droplet of chuck Norris lives within the soul of chief… I'm sure.

Well, glad to give you guys a chapter, but sorry for being a day later. My laptop, which I write my stories on, fried its battery, so I just got a new one. Sorry 'bout it! I will make up the sudden ending in the next chapter! I PROMISESESGAH (implodes)


	25. The Board Is Set

Three King Raven Choppers roared overhead, zipping by after another pass at the war zone below. The combined force of three active Raven choppers, several gears below, and a number of unidentified robotic objects were apposed a seemingly unending wave of locust.

The Choppers were sure to pass quickly, unleashing short, but devastating blasts over the field of battle as they passed, not letting the locust get a fix on them. Hit and run was working.

Below, the two squads still struggled to keep the advancing lines back. Emergence holes had not appeared yet, but the numbers never seemed to end; constantly applying pressure to the six still in combat.

"Marcus!" Dom shouted as he turned to his comrade. Marcus too turned, and found himself almost face to face with a charging drone, its chainsaw bayonet raised and its face snarling.

"Shiit!" he expertly raised his gun up, revving the chainsaw as he did, just in time to parry the incoming attack. The drone, which had a missing eye, howled in anger, pushing him as they both began a chainsaw tug-of-war. Marcus returned the howl with a forceful grunt, and found the moment.

He shoved harder and quicker, and the grunt was forced back. Stumbling back, and around, he revved his chainsaw even further, and then brought it down on the creatures spine. In a blood curling war cry, he literally shredded the locusts back until it was unrecognizable.

"Now dat's how its done!" Cole said. He stood momentarily, shooting several grunts across the field of battle, and then quickly fell back. "These mutha's just wanna feel the pain!"

"The pain is the only thing we'll be feeling if we don't stop this!" Howard said, glancing at his clip, then to his pack. "Now on my last clip!"

"Same up here!" Baird shouted through the intercom. The three up ahead had so far been devastating to the numbers of the locust. Even as more marched down at them, they stilled unleashed more. But they were running dry.

"Any ideas? I really can't see us beating them away with our pistols!" Marcus shouted, checking his own munitions. He was down to two.

"Grenades-less up here," Dom called from ahead.

"None over hear dawg." Cole added.

"I got a smoke grenade, but that really wont do us much, unless we want to make a run for it," Howard said to Marcus, glancing briefly at the now moving Sergeant Agron behind him, protected by the tree. "Sergeant?"

Mark groaned, but lifted a hand to the intercom in his ear. "This is Sergeant Agron requesting immediate lift-off; we're running low in ammo over."

"Stay down!" Richard shoved him back to the ground, and proceeded to shoot over the protection of the fallen log. Buzzing returned in their ears, as the lead raven responded.

"Sonny, if you can get us a damn opening, we'll get our troops down there and mow them to the earth!" The unmistakable voice of Colonel Hoffman sounded back, the whirring of the helicopters in the background. "We can't land unless you give us a clearing!"

"Sir," another chopper responded, more to the Colonel than the others," I could try a sweep and seat, sir!"

"Are you asking for cover boy?!"

"Yes sir!"

"We'll provide support, just get more men down here and we can take this battle!" Baird shouted, looking up as he did, almost shouting at the chopper as it zoomed past them.

"Alright. One concentrated sweep, and you will drop down on center stage. Don't you dare get shot down!" Colonel Hoffman responded. "Make the pass, go!"

The choppers whipped past, just above the massive frigate.

"Where are they going!?" Richard shouted as he found himself holding down the trigger only to hear clicks.

"They're coming around!" Baird said, shouting as he reloaded what seemed to be his last, clip looking angrier than ever. "Standard Sweep and seat- they quickly clear the area and land, preventing locust from recovering the lost space."

"How does he get this much information in his thick head…?" Mark groaned, just above his breath.

The Locust continued their attack, marching steadily, assured in their victory as now only five guns were firing back. One went silent, and the horde focused their firepower further on the still firing weapons. The mass the gears were up against was too much.

Finally, the guns went silent. And the remaining gears watched in horror as the grunts walked on, firing still.

The only thing left were the five sentinels still hovering above the advancing crowd, each one individually cooking a selected locust. But they weren't doing enough. Even though they were doing a good job of avoiding damage, they couldn't distract nor kill enough locust to cause a change in movement.

"Hoffman!!" Marcus screamed into his headset, just as the return of the choppers roared above them, each one poised for maximum damaged, slowed to a near halt just above the edge of the wreckage.

"Engage, now!" the order was given, and six troika chain guns roared. The destruction concentrated just in front of the 'bunker', the locust was being torn to pieces. Not waiting for another chance, the three in the ditch ran for cover, retreating to the log and piece of ship still partially intact.

Two choppers soared past, while one slowed even further, landing parallel to the ship. Instantly, seven soldiers jumped out, weapons in their hands. Four jumped out to face the direction of the locust, while two ran for the remaining squad.

Similarly suited as the two squads, the first one approached. "We don't have all that much time, so get over here and get this stuff loaded!" The six still and capable of fighting all ran for the chopper. "Get armed!"

"'bout time." Marcus grabbed several clips of what he could, and a secondary shotgun. "Looks like life isn't that cruel."

"We're still here aren't we?" Baird almost spat at him.

"We got something!" one of the chopper's captains shouted over the radio. "It's- taking evasive action!"

"Talk to me!" Colonel Hoffman responded to the desperate shouts.

On the ground, the ground trembled for a moment. A moment later, a second deep sounding 'boom' shook the ground. The eight gears all looked into the trees on the others side of the chopper. Something was making the largest trees snap like twigs.

"Brumak located moving due north to U.C.O. and gears squadron Alpha- Alpha and Alpha-Delta! It's a big one!"

"Get in the air, now!"

The soldiers quickly ran back into the chopper, not giving enough time for the gears to either re-arm properly or jump aboard. And the chopper just got a foot in the air, as the Brumak burst into view, crashing trees down on either side.

The Brumak was one of the many weapons of sheer terror the Locust used. Average ones stood at over twelve meters tall, and weighing over ten thousand pounds. Brumaks were perfectly described as a dinosaur from hell; standing slightly upright, hunching over in either its massive weight or the fact that it carried a massive cannon on its back, it was one of the most terrible things infantry could come across. A troika turret attached to each arm, it was armed for not only close killing but for long range combat. It's head was round, similar to bloated dragonfly's, with many eyes glowing eerily yellow and its mouth screaming rows of unorganized razor-sharp teeth.

The term 'a big one' was a serious understatement. It was almost seventeen meters in height, and had larger weapons to accommodate the size. It's skin, which Brumaks were notorious for having thick skin, looked impenetrable, as there were burn marks on either arms, and one side of it's 'face' seemed scarred by two large gashes.

"Get in the air." Hoffman couldn't force himself to yell.

"Move this thing-" The Brumak watched the Chopper come dangerously close to him, and in it's aggression, tried slashing at it with one of it's claws. The chopper, while being comparatively fragile compared to the beast, was knocked away, spinning almost out of control, and skimming the tops of trees before it stabilized and soared away, gaining distance as the Brumak turned to it, hissed, and fired it's cannon.

"Get to cover!" Marcus yelled, firing at the weaponry on either side of the beasts arms.

"WHERE IS THAT!?" Baird screamed as he too opened fire on the creature, however he paid little attention to what he aimed at. The beast, noticing the bullet impacts, turned and roared at the running men.

Even as they got cover, Marcus saw past the Brumak, and there were still many locust waiting behind the attack. Not charging forward as usual, but rather staying back and watching. Marcus had never seen that happen before; locust always sent what they had at them. "Why aren't they attacking us?"

"I disagree my friend," Mark said, getting behind the thickest section as fast he could," I really do."

The Brumak growled, directed his arm for the covering squads, and the weapons sprayed bullets like a hose.

"Fu-uck me!" They all got even further down as the actual rain of bullets started chipping away at the log. "This is not good. No it is not!" Mark shouted over the log as the beast, growled, spying above the ship.

"Shut up, we got this… somehow!" Richard shouted back at him, staring at Carey. "You think you could pull off-"

"Impossible." The dark man said, staring still at the Brumak, who had turned, and started to fire at the two remaining choppers in the area, who were busy dodging the bullets. "Skin's too thick. Armor strong as it is."

"Where is that damn robot-alien," Mark spat at the others," super-soldier when you god damn need him!?"

Baird glared at Mark. "Calm down."

"Wh-" as much as mark thought it were outrageous to be told 'calm down' by a man who spent half his time shouting, a new buzzing sound returned. The sentinels, who had gain distance at the arrival of the Brumak, had returned, and were now orbiting the massive being like satellites.

The Brumak only noticed them when their rays started burning at it's skin. Distracted and annoyed, it started roaring at the small robots, who each switched positions as the creature tried to swipe at each, missing in their evasion.

"Now?" Dom asked hypothetically.

"Now!" Marcus responded, and they all stepped back out, and returned fire on the Brumak, who was getting angrier and angrier with the small bothersome flies of Sentinels that were singeing its skin. It took a moment for the Brumak to again turn for the soldiers, and fire a moments attack; by then they had taken cover.

"That thing's going down man!" Cole said optimistically as they readied for another attack. Only, as he did, the attacking Brumak successfully struck one Sentinel. It flew in the air, and smashed into the side of the hull, not shattering but falling, and looking dead as sparks flew from its odd shape.

The Brumak seemed to detect the hope in the men, and wove one of its arms to them, and again rained death at them.

"Chief!! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"I'll be there in a second." The others seemed stunned that he instantly responded.

"Chief!?" Marcus shot," where have you been!?"

"Salvaging. I'll be out in a minute."

* * *

The Chief stood in the Armory, by one of the weapons lockers. Reaching in one, he withdrew a massive, rectangular package. It Read on the side-

Galilean Nonlinear Rifle: Warning! Use with extreme caution! Heat generated from weapon cool down may cause badly harm if exposed directly to open skin.

"Yeah. I know that much." He said to the package, fully aware of what it would do.

"Chief, you know I hate have to rush you, but I love to rush you," Cortana said hurriedly," they're not having a fun time out there, I think you should get out there and help!"

"Yeah. that's why I'm packing this. And you contradicted yourself." Removing the package, he withdrew a long, armored weapon. The 38 inch weapon shiny plating on top, multileveled cover, hiding a long cylinder which was the weapon. A grip at the end of the weapon was ready, along with the shoulder grip. Checking it's sights, he glanced down the scope.

"Looks ok." Slinging it over his shoulder, and picking up his inactivated plasma sword, he marched, and started running out, ready to end the fighting.

* * *

"Move over there! There!!" Marcus pointed to the plated piece of hull, still partially intact. "That can provide some protection." The Sentinels had retreated, and the Brumak was doing a good job of keeping the choppers away from the area. It currently was firing down on the men, who had taken refuge in a shield-bubble made by Baird. In a split-second decision, he had charged over, dragged the partially intact Sentinel over, and used it to harness a one-sided temporary barrier that would stop most bullets coming their way. But it was growing dim.

"Why does everything this guy bring with him," Baird growled at the dying light of the shield," have to have some kind of limit!?"

"Colonel, we might be able to distract the damn thing while you come in for a sweep!" Mark negotiated with the leader in one of the choppers via comlink.

"If you have a guarantee, we will come! But it doesn't seem like that's going to happen!"

Click. Buzz. Whirr.

The entirety of both squads turned to face the direction that the sudden strange sounds came from. A small beam of red light was being projected from the broken through hull. The whirring was getting louder. And the beam got thicker. The Brumak could never see the small red dot in the center of it's chest.

With a hidden countdown done, a massive surge of light, sound, and energy burst from the dark opening. The Colonel clearly shouted 'Whoa' over the com, while the others ducked in fear of what had happened. The short blast of light struck the Brumaks chest, and it howled unlike any human had heard one before, bellowing in pain and agony. A clear heavy burn just under what could have been it's collar bone.

"Chief!" Dom shouted at the Spartan, who was now walking slowly out of the ship, the Spartan Laser raised, and aimed for the beast. The Brumak hadn't been knocked over, but was still grasping at its chest in pain, and looked up just in time for it to receive a second blast to its shoulder. It bellowed again, stepping back further.

"Colonel, if you wanted an opening-" Mark shouted in desperation as the others got up, not needing to discuss the validity of the opening, and started shooting at the Brumak.

"We're coming in, Strike Attack Prism," Hoffman replied. The two choppers, which had been flying off, keeping distance, both flew far behind the ship, ready to gain momentum for attack.

"Yeah, Yeah!!" Richard screamed as his rifle spewed bullets like the eight others.

"Now, open fire!" Hoffman again shouted. And four streams of troika fire were unleashed on the Brumak, who was starting to loose balance, tipping back, but still screaming in anger. Just as the two choppers passed by it, each zooming to the left or right, the beast began to gain it's footing, just in time to find it's forehead the target of the small laser pointer, and then a massive red flash.

The Brumak never made a sound as its top section of skull was ripped clean off. Its cannon burst into flames, quickly falling apart as the beast fell down, dead. The corpse rocked the ground on impact.

The nine men all stared in disbelief. The weapon the chief carried took a Brumak down in three shots. Granted, with the help of two choppers and two squads of men, but two shots and the last was clearly the fatal strike. And the chief simply walked past the smoldering body, looking into the forest of trees, as the drones stared back.

The Chief raised his gun, charging it for another attack, while the grunts just watched. It perplexed him so much, that he paused, and lowered the gun. A moment after, the horde turned, and started running off, leaving their dead behind. Master Chief lowered his Laser weapon off his shoulders, and carried it back to where the two squads still stood, amazed.

"What was that?" Baird asked, not looking at the chief as he spoke. The Spartan walked past, dropping the Laser at the man's feet, and walking past to both Sergeants.

"Sorry for taking so long."

"You took out both Berserker, and Brumak?"

The two Sergeants turned back and the Chief looked past them. One of the Choppers had landed, and the grizzled man, Colonel Victor Hoffman was walking right up to them. Quickly nodding to both Sergeants, he sized up the tall, green armored man before him.

"I take it you are the Spartan I have been informed off?"

"Sir, Master Chief Spartan John 117 reporting, sir." The chief said, expecting it to explain itself. The Colonel just nodded.

"Before I begin presenting you with various awards of bravery, courage, valor, and what not, I need to ask your some questions." The Colonel motioned him to follow, and the Spartan did, walking to the Chopper.

"Colonel!" Mark shouted to the senior officer," what about the locust?"

"They're gone. Ran off," The Chief stated briefly. Rather than asking, the Sergeant frowned, and ran past the dead body of the Brumak to check if what he said was true. Hoffman continued to the chopper, and turned to face the Spartan, which he found difficult to feel higher in rank above due to the size and awkward nature of looking into a visor without knowing what was on the other side.

"Now, I want the truth, and nothin' but. Understand? You may not be a Gear, but you are a soldier."

"Yes."

"Good. First of all, who do you officially work for? I think it's been made clear that you are either human or choose to ally with humans."

"UNSC, the United Nations Space Command of Earth, Sir." The Chief considered that since no one else had understood what Earth really was, he doubted that this man would know the name of Humanities Government. At least from where he came from. The Colonel nodded.

"Earth? Never heard of it." The Chief had heard that before, but something told him the man before him knew otherwise. The cold eyes had locked onto the face plate of the helmet. "Second, are you aware of the year?"

"Twenty five, fifty three, sir."

"Incorrect. The Year is thirteen twenty seven."

"…Yes Sir."

Again, the Chief was perplexed. Of all things the chief knew, in the year 1327 earth was a pre-industrial medieval slaughterhouse. Religions, hierarchies, and crusades were prominent in this year, but not wars with alien races with brutal weapons close to his own technology. It didn't seem to click.

"Third, why are you here? I doubt very much that the ship was simply made to appear or just happened to land on our planet, let alone with what looks like half a section missing."

The chief could not find an answer he saw that would explain it. He was sure that it still was 2553, and that only three days ago, he had destroyed the arc and ended the Flood and the covenant. But that all seemed like a different life for him. Yet he landed on a planet, in who knows where in the universe, with a warring civilization of humanity fighting yet again an alien race. It seemed like he just wound up exactly where he had during the first halo mission began.

"Sir, you need any help you can get your hands on. I offer help."

"Is that it? You just want to help us hu?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

The Colonel again gazed at him with the cold eyes, like he was being scanned. "Well, if that's it, I think you can help us out yet again." He held his hand up to his left ear, and called into the comsystem. "Alpha Squad and Delta, you are to report to Chopper Sparrow-3 for re-assignment."

"What?!" retaliated a whiny Baird.

"Now means now son!" he lowered his hand, and returned to look at the Spartan. "Although we don't usually see coincidences as good signs, we can accept them. Do you swear on oath and what honor you have to serve the Coalition of Ordered Governments until we can properly assign you a position?"

"Yes sir."

The Colonel extended a hand. "Welcome to the war son."

"I think I got to know it a while back."

Breaking the handshake, the other two squadrons arrived, each re-armed and suited. Just as they stopped their running, the two other choppers landed, and the groups of soldiers started jumping off, scanning the area.

"Congratulations men, you have taken a useful spot in the war. We can use this as a new outpost, and what we can gain from this-" he pointed at the ship," can prove to be more than simply effective in our war against the Locust. Normally we would tell you to take a break, but we need you to investigate the appearance of the horde without use of emergence holes."

"Where we going?" Marcus asked briefly.

"Westlance Weapons Facility number 25. Abandoned during Emergence day, it's the closest hollow ground underground facility that the locust could use against us. While it's obvious now that Locust have been able to remain stable despite our lightmass bomb attack, we are curious of their new activities. We will transport you," Hoffman said, jumping onto the chopper," directly outside of the building."

"What about the ship?" Mark saw several other Ravens flying over the horizon, obviously heading straight for the crash sight.

"After this successful mission, we are by no chances loosing this gain. It will be fortified with what we have to spare, and if not, more."

"Understood. Lets get going." The squads followed the Colonel, and got situated in the larger version of the King Raven Chopper, able to hold a larger number of men. After a moment, they noticed the Spartan still standing on the ground. "Chief, let's go."

"How much weight can that thing carry?" the Spartan said, pointing to the chopper.

"About two thousand max, why?"

Glad the helmet hid his concern, the chief stepped lightly on the chopper, and it to his surprise held tight. He grabbed one of the fasts, ready for the bumpy ride.

"Colonel Hoffman!" A soldier came running up to the chopper just before takeoff. "Message from Command!"

"Damnit boy!" the colonel, displaying surprising athletics for someone his age, leapt form the rising chopper to the ground. Once he had landed, he spoke via intercom. "The pilot will take you there, and you are to observe any and all things within this facility!"

The chopper soared off. Hoffman turned to the soldier, and held a long distance communicator to his ear. "Yes. Yes, I have. I believe I have some more information that could help in our understanding. No, call in all of them. Even the chairman. I'll be there by two hours, next chopper. Tell them I have top secret information.

The chief, as the chopper buckled and shook, could not help but look back at the shrinking ship as other choppers began descending around it. First feeling like he had traded possibly one of his last pieces of home to his new allies for dissection, he felt something else, again looking at it.

Ominous. A way, he felt glad to be away from it. Master Chief couldn't tell if what was bothering him was the rocking of the chopper which could barely hold their total weight, or like something lurked back inside the ship.

* * *

"Stop."

Two large Locust, who a moment before had been tackling each other halted, still glaring at each other, and back off. They both.

The area was a massive sub-surface room, far underground. Dimly lit, except for the center, which was populated by two large locust, each one strangely distinct from the other. Two others, each one unique, stood in respect. A set of steps led to a darkened throne, where the voice emanated from.

"With all respect your eminence, it was a mistake to withdraw and listen to this coward of a general!" the large Locust to the right, General S.C.Y.T.H., spoke with hatred to the opposite Locust. S.C.Y.T.H. was smaller but reacted quicker as they both again charged and struck each other.

The Second general, who was larger, bulkier, but slower in movement and better at prevent attacks rather than dealing them, fought back. This was General S.H.I.EL.D, the general in charge of all defensive operations.

The two standing on the side were B.O.L.T. and W.I.G.H.T., leaders of scouting and bombardments, and espionage.

"Stop." Again, the deep commanding voice halted the attack.

"Your eminence, I advised with the hopes of preventing too many casualties in our ranks!"

"Yes. You do your job well at this. Yet my mission remains unfulfilled, General." The beady eyes of the general glanced from side to side in consideration of the comment, obviously taken aback.

"Perhaps," the opposite general hissed," Wall is getting to his head, as after all you couldn't prevent the bomb from destroying the main fort, and now you prevent a mission from being carried out." The General named 'Shield' made to attack the other general, but stopped at a glance to his leader.

"We need forces in order to-"

"Ha!" SCYTH sneered. "You act as though we are limited in number!"

"I aught to cut your tongue like a worthless human-"

"Enough." The two again straightened up, standing straight at the throne.

Into the light, a small bony, elongated hand with only two digits as fingers, stretched out and pointed to the two.

"You Will prepare my moving. I will not tolerate any other Human's this close to me. I also wish to prepare for the new coming. I will not fail our ancestors in this war. Go now."

The four generals turned, and marched away. The bony hand retreated into the darkness, and a distant door closed, echoing in the room.

* * *

End of Act 3.

To be continued in act 4.

* * *

Ohh yes. That felt good. Hey, I'm back to normal! ALL RIGH- oh wait a second.

I got some things to tell you. First of all, I'm sorry for not getting this out earlier. But I got something to say to u all. WHY HASN"T U CHOOSEN 1 OH MAH BUKKITS!? What I meant to say is I'm disappointed that not one of you have even looked at the options on my poll, which I am keeping up until someone puts a damn tally on.

But on the other hand, I can't feel to bad when I've got this to look at every day.

(Currently)

Title- Men of War

Words- 61590

Chapters- 26

Reviews- 102

Hits- 22330

CC's- 2

Fav's- 38

Alerts- 64

Oh man, that is all you guys! ALL YOU! I made three parts. Title, Words and Chapters. YOU ALL MADE THE REST!! OMFG x10000 plus powerthirst.

Now, since you're done with this chapter and the next will won't come out until next week, I recommend you have a look at my other story. If you like Hellsing, Resident Evil, Inuyasha, or F.E.A.R. or all of them, go read it. don't judge it by its category.

And I've finally given the older chapters a good run through. 1 and 2 are much more shiny and pretty, so go give them a quick read, k?

Well, now I have triumphantly returned, I feel the need to express my gratitude. YEAHYEAHEYYEAHHEHAT awesome, hu? Now go read my other story and do my poll which will take maybe ten minutes out of your day at most, and make me ten times happier. BYE GUYS! GLAD TO BE BACK!!

EZB


	26. The Past and Future

The chopper had passed over various forests. A chain of mountains far in the west was the boundary of passage. And they were still going for an abandoned weapons factory not to far from the Kalacpo mountain range.

The chief, still looking out across the vast area before him, spied the mountains. They weren't tall, but barren. The forests abruptly stopped before reaching the roots of the tall landscapes, presenting dark or possibly singed mountains. However, the spiny mountains looked sinister, many canyons of mountains between.

"Kalacpo."

The chief turned, seeing that Marcus too was watching the mountains.

"The only place Gears so far won't go," Marcus said again, now picking at the barrel of his rifle, pecking off dirt from the many small lines across its complex shape.

"Why's that?" The Spartan said, still spying the man.

"… Even before locust came, there was always something there. A type of creatures that say are worse than armies. They live in the mountains for some reason. Probably to keep out of the light."

Master Chief had heard stories like this one back home. Creatures and monsters that defied imagination- things from nightmares. However, the monsters he had seen so far had been mortal, and arrived from a distant location in space. The Covenant had been the only real monster he had yet seen.

"Drop it," Baird said, looking down at the zooming by scenery," those are myths. Nothing is worse than armies of Brumaks. There aren't enough H.O.D.s in the world to stop armies of those things."

"What?" Richard also saw the mountains. "Oh yeah… I always thought Corpsers lived there."

"What?" Marcus responded. "Why would Corpsers live there!?"

"I dunno… I just always though of big spiders living on those mountains…"

A few uneasy moments passed. The chief found himself thinking again, but not of the mountains. But of this new enemy that had made itself known so fierce and powerful; The Locust. Cortana voice his mind.

"What started this?" the A.I. said, using the com systems to the others. "Why are you at war with the locust?"

Alpha squad all exchanged glances, and Marcus sighed, turned and faced the Spartan. "Don't know."

"There has to be some reason why it all started," Cortana pressed to man facing her and Chief, yet he still seemed stone faced. "Tell us then what you know.

"Everyone knows how it began. At least, when and what happened when it did." Again the other Gears seemed oddly quiet now, and the strange feeling of foreboding got thicker.

"About fourteen years ago…" Started Marcus, but he scoffed," no, before that, there was the Pendulum wars. That led to our rise. The Cogs rise. A war between nations for power sources."

"What does that have to do with-" Baird started, but stopped after a glare from Marcus.

"Once the war ended, the Coalition of Ordered Governments-"

"Or Cogs," Dom interrupted.

"Was at the top, and soon reshaped the world into one massive government. And that has lasted for a while. Then, fourteen years ago…" Marcus trailed off, thinking about the past.

"What?" The chief asked, unsure of what could cause hardened soldiers this much of a pause.

"Emergence day," Mark suddenly said, sounding as dark if not darker than Carey usually looked.

"One day fourteen years ago, in every major city, structure, or anyplace important, Locust just suddenly swarmed out and started killing people." Marcus continued as the Chief imagined what kind of scene that would have been like. "Unarmed, unprepared, and military forces too far off, it was a day of slaughter. The world's population was diced up like mince meat."

The image in his head was one of peace, and then blood. It reminded the Chief of the fall of autumn. Blood and death everywhere, but that had been a battle, not a slaughter.

"Prescott, our leader, decided to evacuate as many as possible, and then retaliate as well as we could. But even with the population in bad shape, he couldn't evacuate as many as we wanted."

"That's why they're strandeds man." Cole piped up.

"Then… we fired at the cities we left behind, our satellites burning the great cities we once had, and anything unlucky enough to be caught in the way."

"Yeah right." Richard said, moodily, while Marcus stared at him for such a verbal assault. "I remember the 'Fortification enactment," he turned to the chief," they put every human on martial law, then forced them away from their homes, separated families, and then said that everyone who could make it, thanks for your sacrifice! We'll just burn the world now! Bye!"

"That's terrible." Cortana replied, also taken aback at Richard's sudden aggression.

"Oh yeah, we 'won' the invasion, but we burnt what we had created to ashes in the process," Richard continued, and after a slight nudge from Mark, started to calm down. "I may have been young, but I remembered what I lost that year."

"Yeah, I think most of us do," Howard said lightly, almost sorrowfully.

"Alright guys! We've got our site coming up! Prepare for landing!"

The Gears readied themselves, watching as the ground got less and less high, the tress growing like weeds as a large industrial factory looking building appeared, and several topped towers having fallen over all get taller around them as the neared the ground.

"Go! GO!"

* * *

"I hope this is important, I have other things to be doing rather than a conference." Several military dressed men walked down a set of stairs, leading to a table placed in a large dim room. Surrounding them was many lit panels of light and large screens.

Major Frost stood, at the end of a table with a younger lieutenant standing next to him, a folder sealed in a strange green plastic like substance covering it. On the opening area, there was a small micro chip next to a tiny microphone. On the package was dark red letters 'Column Seven Secrecy'.

"At least you weren't getting any sleep General. I've just been interrupted from a long nap that I have planned for weeks." A buzz cut older General said, who sounded close to Colonel Hoffman but in a closer southern accent.

"Sir, Major Frost and Lieutenant reporting, sir!" Frost saluted along with the Lieutenant. "Colonel Hoffmam will arrive with the Chairman soon. Would you please take a seat…"

The various generals situated themselves around the set table, and the Lieutenant slid the wrapped paper across it, to a waiting hand. Hoffman had just arrived.

"Afternoon Gentlemen." He turned, facing sideways to the stairs. "All stand for the Chairman."

The major, before saluting again, slapped himself in the head for having the generals sit themselves, only to stand back up. Atop the stairs an elaborately dressed man, again in Military attire walked down the stairs to the seat held out by Colonel Hoffman.

In his mid-forties, Chairman Prescott had graying black hair that had been timed to a near buzz cut. Light pale skin with light blue eyes, he seemed like light hadn't seen him in ages. But he spoke with force.

"This meeting is officially over Top-Secret. All those without such clearance will leave immediately." The major and Lieutenant both hurried up and out of the room, and a loud lock was heard behind them.

"Colonel Hoffman will brief us on what this is about." The chairman said out loud again, tuning to the Colonel who had started to walk down the table, a small remote control in his left hand.

"This package here," he lifted the green envelope in his right hand," contains information that is beyond top-secret clearance, on the Pillar Seven Secrecy." The generals stared at the envelope. "Today we wont reveal its contents, but I was informed to bring it here. This," he clicked the control in his hand," is why we are here. Watch carefully."

A large panel on the wall turned on, taking up most of the wall, and showed a single image, the battle that had taken place by the fallen ship. Again, the colonel clicked the remote, and the scene continued from the point of the Chopper, far off, observing the Brumak as it fired on the two groups of Gears stationed behind a large log by the massive ship. No sound was heard, possibly from damage from the battle or not activated.

"We know what this is, Colonel," an irritable General stated, waving off the captured footage like useless information," Brumaks are weapons used by-"

"What is that??" a General situated next to him suddenly started.

On the film, a large red laser had began to grow, focusing on the large beast. After a moment, the red light shone brightly, and doubled in size, apparently hitting the Brumak in the chest; several men gasped at the effect it had. The film continued on, showing more of the battle as the beast was hit twice more, and then after the choppers past, actually had it's skull ripped clean off.

"Where did that light come from?!" the same general demanded.

The footage continued even after the two squads below surrounded the beast. A very tall man, apparently in green armor of some kind walked around the beast, dropping some sort of weapon on the ground as he did. The final footage ended as the chopper landed and the Colonel jumped off, leaving the picture to stop just as the Armor clad man to start walking over.

"This man," the colonel pointed to the semi-fuzzy image of the armored man," has identified himself as 'Master Chief' and 'Spartan John 117'. As of now, he believes that the year is 2553. He comes from a planet called 'Earth', and says he works for something known as the UNSC. He told me all this personally while I 'recruited' him."

The generals all stared as they absorbed this information.

"Twenty five thousand fifty three?" A larger, black skinned general stated, his deep yet calming voice reverberating as he questioned the colonel. "The year is thirteen thousand twenty seven."

"So is the man from the future?" the general next to him, a comparatively smaller man with tanned skin and unkempt hair, burst out. "I mean, from what I saw that sort of fire power is not too dissimilar to an over-clocked Hammer of Dawn Satellite. That thing however was hand held!"

"A shoulder weapon more like." responded Hoffman. "General Stride," he spoke to the general who had stated about Hammer of Dawn," the man in the picture," he again pointed to the image," had armor I have never dreamt about, let alone seen on future schematics. And from what I've heard about this 'Spartans' capabilities, he is, in all cases, super-human."

"So the future is not an impossibility." Stated another General, who had longer black hair and a thin scar across his face. He smoked a cigar as he sat. "He came down with this… ship?" he said, directing to the large wreckage of the vehicle in the background.

"From what I can also tell and from information provided from my two squads," the Colonel stated," he's the man of the ship."

"But we don't know for certain where he came from, who he is- do we even know for sure what his motives are?!" the General, who had pointed out that the Brumak was common knowledge, argued.

"That is correct. I cannot saw with absolute certainty. But he has helped our soldiers, fought the Locust, and has come forward without hesitation. A perfect soldier so far."

"Has he said anything in detail as to his purposes, Colonel?" Asked the large black general.

"No. He's a quiet man. Won't talk unless prompted really."

The men of the room all remained quiet for a moment.

"All right." The Chairman spoke up, drawing attention from the others. "I authorize this man's official entry to the Gears of War of the Coalition of Organized Governments. You will continue to order him as if he was any other soldier. I now what any and all other information regarding this thing that crashed on my desk or sent to my immediately. Understood? Dismissed."

The Generals all nodded and stood up, heading up the stairs. Hoffman remained, staring at the Chairmen.

"You did very good. I was surprised they didn't get suspicious of our lack of information." Prescott said, getting up and smiling.

"As you ordered, Chairman." Hoffman stared for a moment, then stated," do you think they had any idea this might be connected to the _Last Hope_, sir?"

* * *

Ack, so little really, but JAM packed with information. OMg like CHERRY jam. Or GRAPE JUUUUUUM!

Aha, I fee like just pressing buttons. The Arizona tea,….. OHAHAHA!!

Sorry for getting in a little late, but I will begin to post chapters twice a week, that way I will get such stories done faster hehehe. and again, do what i like- read my other story, OH dear god please! my latest chapter has been hailed as super-suspenseful, funny, and awesome! and then do me-poll-thing. Please (does bambi-eyes)

So, review- and YES I know its short (cries) SHOORRT! WAHAHAHAHAAAAAA- GASP! (get's sucked into a black whole originating from his mouth, then sucks in the rest of the universe, vacuum clear-like style!)


	27. Surface Unscratched

The two squads, soldier by soldier, leapt from the landing chopper. As the air spun violently around them, they ran to the closest section of the massive complex; a booth for security passage, long since abandoned and now overgrown with tangles of vines.

"Stop here," Marcus slowed from his roadie run; stopping to turn the landed chopper," what's our pickup status?" he called the chopper via com-link.

"I'm laying low until you find your gold and come back; Colonels orders." The pilot waved a hand at them. "Get inside so we can get out of this shithole guys!"

"I heard that," Dom nodded, stepping aside slightly as the chief had joined them. "Marcus, want to do the spread?"

"Yeah. This place could be massive, and loaded with Locust," he turned to the others," we're going to split it into squads. Chief, you're ok at going alone?" The Spartan nodded. "Alright, lets get going and find our way in."

Walking past the near rotting booth like shack, the group walked on cracked concrete. A former parking lot of massive standards, it stretched on for a good distance both ways as they glanced right and left. The tower collection of shapes that looked like an abandoned castle dawned before them. Further ahead, several doors, their glass shattered, stood as skeletons to always guard the entrance, but never defend it.

"Watch the glass," Howard noted, spotting several sharper remains hanging on the broken doors. Marcus, not taking any chances, kicked out at the door, smashing it to the ground and shattering any remaining glass. "That works too."

"Ingenuity." Marcus grunted in aggressive satisfaction.

"Yeah, just knock the front door down would you?" Baird hissed, listening to the crunching of glass under their feet," you know, just in case there are any Locust who are taking a stay?"

"You're forgetting what our positions are," Mark responded, amused," we're the exterminators, remember?"

"You have seen the size of these bugs, right?" Baird growled back, but didn't press the topic as Mark waved his hand in resignation.

"Man, you know I don't like bugs." Cole said quieter than before. "Real bugs, ya know? Like spiders and shit like that."

"Wait-" Richard turned," you love plastering the walls with grub guts, but spiders scare you?" The idea of something so small intimidating Cole seemed crazy to most of the squad.

"It's da way they move; looks so weird."

Passing through the entrance, they walked into what used to be the lobby, or main hall. The roof's collapse having cut off most of the area, there were four hallways to choose from, each one with a label of a certain area of the weapons facility. A large, partially intact desk laid in the center of the room, the electronics strew across it moldy and not of any use. The glass ceiling above cracked, missing tiles of glass, and in some cases having crashed to the floor altogether, let rays of sun shine in, the primary source of light in the area.

"Choose?" Mark asked to the other Sergeant. Marcus looked around, unsure of which could lead to something suspicious, or locust related. They weren't even sure there was anything here at all, just being a look-up.

"We'll head here," he nodded to a hall with a scratched out green sign, directing some sort of path or instructions.

"Ok, we'll head center." Mark motioned for his squad to follow, and the squads broke up, leaving the chief to take the far left choice, which led down via a long case of stairs.

Delta squad marched quietly, looking around the broken walls and shattered tiles surrounding them. Ahead, more lights from caved in sections of roof threw the sign 'dead end' on several other hallways. However, looking to his left, Marcus spied a large room filled with weapon holders.

"Let's load what we can," he said walking over to several crates, as the others spread out, spying for their own crates to gain supplies. Glancing at the crate, he saw something odd. "This place; it's non-aligned."

"Hu?" Cole glanced around also seeing how the crates and ammunitions didn't bear the C.O.G. arms approval notice. "Shit, you're right."

"Wait, if they aren't with the government…" Dom faced Marcus, in thought," how did they keep this place running without constant immulsion power supply?" Marcus shrugged, and turned back to the crate.

Opening the crate in front of him with a bash from the back of his rifle, Marcus slid the top to find nothing. The weapons crate was empty, meaning someone else had come before them. Groaning in anger, he pushed it away, and repeated the same process on a similar box. Same results, empty.

"What the-" Baird was having the same luck of ammunitions as the others, kicking over several in attempts to spill out any form of weapons," Nothing!?"

"Same here," Dom said, opening up several weapons lockers to find yet more of nothing. "At least it's somewhat clean."

Marcus turned, unsure if he had heard right. Walking over to the weapons lockers, he was startled to find that indeed, the lockers had very little dust compared to the rest of the building so far. Looking around, he searched for an active vent, broken roof tile, anything that could have caused the air to circulate and prevent dust from settling. Yet, this room seemed very well intact. So intact in fact…

"Hey. Guys want a drink?" Baird held up a dark glass bottle, as dark liquid sloshed around inside. "Good stuff," he opened the bottle, and gave a whiff," not bad stuff at all."

"where'd you get that?" Marcus asked, starting to suspect something.

"Over here. One crate has a good amount of these." Baird lifted up two others, smiling and nodding.

"Something isn't right." Marcus glanced around, trying to place the pieces together. Empty ammunition crates in a long abandoned factory, clean areas inside filthy, and now booze. "Strandeds."

"What?" Baird placed the bottles down quickly, raising his rifle, as expecting an attack. "Guess they left a party."

"You could say dat again," Cole tossed something to Marcus, and as he caught it, he held it up," they left their things here." A simple, rugged leather hat with a row of smaller bullets lined around the cap had been left behind.

"Some was here. And by the looks," Dom glanced at the beer and hat," they just moved out. The beer looks fresh… let me see the hat." Marcus tossed it to him, and Dom felt it through his hands. "This isn't that dirty at all."

"Looks like they took the express move," Marcus said darkly. Spotting a closed door just behind a weapons rack, he walked over to it, and shoved it open.

A massive cylindrical room opened up before him. The single wall a complete circle, he seemed to be standing on a platform of some sort, separate from the major area of the floor. The actual floor was hard metal, and didn't touch the walls but stopped mere inches from it. Directly opposite of him, was another similar entrance/exit to the strange room. Nothing was on the walls. Nothing was on the ground but dust, and the room seemed to stretch up about two stories directly vertical.

Walking off the platform, which had a small chest-high consol that had been long since active, Marcus glanced around. The walls did have rows of small white lights, which spanned up ever fifty or so feet. It reminded him of something.

The doors opposite of him opened, and Marcus raised his rifle in reaction.

"It's me, put it down." Mark stepped out from the other side as his squad followed. Baird and Cole had followed Dom out, and were looking around the strange room. "Any luck with you guys?"

"We're sure Strandeds were here. At least at some point," Marcus added, unsure of when.

"Yeah, we found burnt out cigarette ends. A lot of them. Guys here liked to chill out I guess," Mark stated. He watched Marcus go through another deep thought process.

Again, evidence of others being here- beer, recently disturbed, remaining clothes, and now cigarettes. But what made it all seem odd was that the cigarettes hadn't rotted away.

"Strandeds use low quality stuff… after a week it usually deteriorates. But if there are still remains here, they didn't leave that long ago at all. They just left, recently." Marcus turned to glance at Dom who shrugged, unsure of what to make of it.

The Chief had finally reached the end of his descent only to find the majority blocked off by cave in. The large hallway was completely blocked off, aside form a small door labeled 'Maintenance'. Decided that pressing on was better than stopping, he pushed the door aside, and found himself stalled for a moment.

There was a drop that seemed to last forever just feet from him. A small platform was his only means of not plummeting down into the black depths, which were poorly directly with rows of small lights lined around the cylindrical drop. It looked like a massive elevator. Looking up, he saw that there was indeed a large metal sphere that carved out two similar platforms like the one he stood on.

To his side however, rows of rusted chains clanked and groaned for some reason, under an unknown strain. The Chief turned, just in time to duck from a dart of a pin that shot out from pressure. One chain moved, stopped, and then freely began to soar upwards uncontrolled.

"Uh oh."

The men all felt the ground suddenly shift, and they lost their balance for a moment.

"what the fu-" Baird started, but was interrupted by a loud shriek of metal, followed by heavy groaning. Suddenly, a loud whoosh sounded, and they started falling, leaving the two platforms far above their heads as the began a freefall on the massive platform.

"Oh crap!!" Mark cried as he tried to stand up, only to cringe at the reverberating landing of the Chief, who had jumped just as they passed him. "'Bout time you showed up!"

"This is going to get complicated, very quick," Master chief sighed, thinking of a way to stop them before they smashed into whatever ending there was waiting at the very bottom.

* * *

Prescott stared at the Colonel. "Victor, if I didn't consider you my number two, I would have told you to shut the hell up."

"Chairman," the Hoffman started again," this is something very strange, and it is possible-"

"But not likely," briefly interrupted the Chairman.

"That these two things are related! I find it hard myself, but from what I've seen, heard, and saw, it is very possible these two things are related." The Chairman again stared at him, but turned, pacing as he thought. The screen was still paused on the figure of the massive green armored soldier walking to the Colonel.

"This is simply too hard to believe."

"But it is possible, and considering the facts-" Hoffman started again.

"Facts?" Prescott scoffed. "We know very little facts- for all we know this is a Stranded who was smart enough to make a suit, give himself a good name, weapons-"

"And decided to appear precisely as the object crashes? Sounds as ridiculous as my theory, if not more," the colonel responded, walking closer to the leader. "He said the year 2553; two years, from the Hopes records before it was launched."

"Fine, lets play 'What if'." The chairman sat back down in his seat. "What if he is from Earth? What if this is all connected? What do you plan to do on this?"

"I don't have answer, but I'm sure they would be connected if they are related." The Chairman again considered, rubbing his chin in thought. "And even if they are, I doubt the Spartan knows anything we do."

"Alright, so this Hero of 'Earth' arrives- the same he was when he was reported killed, an unprecedented amount of years later- what does this mean? Well?" Hoffman straightened himself, again thinking.

"He's an ally as of now, and a useful soldier. I see no reason to consider him anything less than that."

The Leader nodded, stood up, and started walking to the stairs. "You will again inform the Major and Lieutenant that they are under my and your direct orders, and will continue their oaths to absolute secrecy?"

Hoffman saluted. As the Leader walked up the stairs, he sat himself down, hands bunched up under his chin. What did all this mean? This man, this Master Chief, appears, recalling Earth as if everyone knew about it, and what was more he was still alive, and far, far away from home.

"What a mad world…"

* * *

OMG WTF ANOTHER SHORT CHAPTER?! GAHGAHHGAHG!! (dies of masses of cat's jumping down his throat, then exploding. He reforms like an ameba)

Uh. Well, I guess I have some things to tell you all. Last time I was here, I said I would be doing 2 chapters per story per week. Ha, yeah. Fat chance. Why? Well, let me break it down for you.

As of now, I write about 2.5k words average per chapter in this story. Then about 5k words average for my other. Add that up, its about 7k per week. Here's what would happen if I doubled.

15k (5 plus 10) words per week, Multiply by 4 (a month), and get around 60k words a month. Yeah, I don't know about you, but that's like writing the entire Gears story in a month. I could get it done, but I'd be dead for lack of food, water, oxygen and attack of Clones. Sorry, but the idea of life is too kool.

So this week is the only week where I'll do two chapters per story… unless I get lucky and get a spike of creativity on my imagine meter (its over 9000!)

So, sorry for wasting your time with this babble, but just wanted it out. Thanks for Reading guys!

EZB

(is eaten to death by angry television remotes all chanting 'Morir es Mirar')


	28. Rock Bottom

"This is getting faster!!" Howard shouted as the lights lined around the tunnel got faster and faster. Most of the group aside from himself, Cole, Marcus, and the Chief were no longer able to stand up, the shaking and speed of the platform falling and further down into whatever awaited them at the end.

"Does this thing have-" a sudden jerk tossed Baird into the air, and slammed him back down," ow! Shit- an emergency brake or something!?" he spat a spray of blood, which actually soared across the 'floor', the air flow actually moving it easily around.

"I see one over here!" Mark started scratching to a spot on the platform, which was near one of the four attachments to four metal chains.

"Well, try it out," moaned Richard, his eyes closed and his face green. "Just make it stop already!"

Mark crawled over to the small button, each push he made as if he was chained to the floor. Finally, after shoving himself further, he lifted up his hand, and smashed it down onto the panel, and the button was pushed. Gears sounded, but the floor kept falling.

"I just love this thing!" Dom shouted, trying to push himself up. He spotted the chief. "You got any ideas big guy?"

The Spartan shrugged.

"Chief, look right," Cortana said, telling him to turn to the walls still rushing past him. He stared, the blurred image occasionally blurred by the lights rushing by, the air screaming by them. But with the hardened eyes of the Spartan, he saw that just under the glare of passing lights was a constant smudge of dark; a deep indention in the tunnel. "find something to wedge this thing to a stop!"

Turning back, he saw one of their lancer rifles. The guns were far too weak to stop something this heavy and fast, plus the weight of them all even a smidgen; it would most likely shatter into pieces and fly back at them. The he spotted a weak section of the platform. A long metal pole melded into the platform was rattling, and was then likely loose enough to be pulled off.

Walking step by step to the metal piece, the Chief bent lower, and pulled it up, staining at it's fantastic weld. But the grey material eventually came loose, and was the width of a rifle but had the length of four meters. Turning back to the passing side, he stepped closer and closer, counting time between each light as it passed.

The chains on the sides, that apparently used to hold the platform in control had a large welding that held the chains to hang free, a sphere that looked strong enough for the weight of the platform. Sticking the pole into the large sphere roughly, he prepared for the lights to pass twice more.

"That- won't work!" baird yelled at the Chief, who ignored the comment. One passed. Two passed, and then he thrust it two seconds after it passed, right on time with the third light to pass by.

The pole snapped, flying out of his hands, one piece flying up while the other slammed into the helmet of the chief, bouncing off of the personal shields. However, the attempt was not in vien; the chains began to rattle to life and turn and spin. The platform began to screech as it slowed.

"I guess not-" Baird said, smiling.

The chains on one side snapped and fell to the platform, just as the others began to slow down, the platform began its free-fall again.

"I take it back, it sucked!" the angry blond shouted as he grabbed the floor, only to have something green and yellow splatter in his face. Feet away, Richard's mouth was open and a strange wet puddle had smeared the area around his face.

"I think I got something!" Marcus shouted, walking over to the now loose set of chains. "I bet all these chains are tied together at some point. If we connect these, it should slow enough to get an easier landing!"

"Lets get going dawg!" Cole shouted as he stomped over, and helped Marcus pull the chain over to the closest set, while the chief pulled another set that was loose to the closest to him and Howard. "Great, what're we doin' next?"

"Put it inside the actual chain! It will grab hold-"

"Dude! You see how fast them chains are moving right?" Cole said to Marcus, who then tossed the end of the link into the larger, still rattling and soaring upward set hard enough that it passed through with enough slack to be caught by him and Cole.

"Do the same other there!" Marcus shouted to the Spartan and Howard, who had mimed the action and had now grabbed hold of the 'lasso'.

The chains did keep soaring up, and the insert links where being brought up with them. The slack being held by the four got thinner and thinner, and on the other side, the same slack began to fly up with the soaring chain. Finally, the beginning of the lasso caught, and the four were jerked up with the sudden force. While not immediately tossed up, they where pulled closer to the still flying chain, which acted like a saw at the speed it was going.

"Shit! This thing-"

"It's slowing!" Carey shouted, beginning to stand once again up, closer to Dom. "Keep it up-"

What happened next they could not have predicted.

The walls suddenly vanished and a gigantic cavern opened up, spanning in a huge open space all around. Dark-brown in color, the walls and ceiling of the natural cave were lit with yellow light, and showed that the place spanned on for a long time. Still falling but slowing still, they couldn't see the bottom, but around them stalagmites and stalactites stood dwarfing them like sky scrapers.

Mark had bravely moved closer to the now completely open edge, and spied down. "There's some sort of platform come up… get this thing slowed down and we might be able to jump without dying!"

"What about just letting this thing slow down until we hit solid ground?" Marcus replied, straining at holding the chain in his hands.

"I still can't see any solid ground!" Mark shouted back, his head over the side. "Slow it down!!"

The Chief finally getting an idea, held the chain as hard as he can, and pulled back, letting his weigh and strength force the chain to slow down, along with the platform.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea-" Cortana warned, just in time for the second chain to snap, and the Chief to be flung off the platform.

He was lucky enough to grab it with both his hands, but the platform was beginning to pick up speed once again. Howard tried to get closer, but the Spartan's weight was now brining the platform off balance, and was turning over, pushing them all to one side, sliding without friction closer to the chief.

"Oh shit!" Dom and the entire group ran for the other side, aside from mark, who was still watching below.

"We have to jump soon! It'll be here in a few seconds!" he stood up, feeling the imbalance. "We have to!" turning, he saw them on the other side of the platform. "Get over here or we die!"

"Oh I really don't like this!" Marcus shouted as they all ran, having the platform get completely off-balance and flip over, just as they leapt, and landed on a large flat cliff. The Metal platform seemed to finally give in, and snap the last two supports, and groan as it flew downward, uncontrolled.

The Gears moaned as they all slowly recovered the impact. Richard simple lost whatever else he had in his stomach, and Baird seemed to think that was a good idea, as he then followed example.

Cole was first up, and helped Dom and Marcus up. "You dudes good?"

Marcus punched his shoulder. "No thanks to you, yeah." He turned, spying the surrounding area. The cliff had a winding path supported by a thin column of earth that lead down the bottom of the massive caves. Below the cliff seemed to be various holes of darkness and occasionally yellow light. But as he stood up, he noticed something- the group felt much larger.

"Where's the chief?" Marcus said, looking further past the cliff to the path, but found no evidence of a hard landing. Realizing something terrible, he turned back to the sheer cliff, his face toned of realization. "Oh man."

"No way- he couldn't be-" Baird stood up, along with Mark to the cliff with Marcus. Stopping short, they leaned over. Darkness; a massive hole was all that was to be seen as they glanced over. No signs of the chief, only the remains of what the platform smashed on its final descent.

"He's dea-"

A large armored hand shot up from under the sheer drop, having Baird and Mark to jump back in surprise, while Marcus smiled and lifted down a hand.

"You have a way of really surprising us, you know?" the grizzled soldier said as he helped pull up the chief, who literally jumped back up rather than climbed. The chief, again back with them, nodded in thanks.

"All accounted for?" Richard asked weakly, kneeling against a large boulder. His face still was green.

"We're here, our weapons are-" Dom started, and then realized he was one rifle short," Oh crap!" starting for the cliff, he stopped, and the others feel the impact of the situation they were in. One weapon less, far underground, no sure of getting back up, and underground, they were right in a bad spot all over again.

After all, anything underground was enemy territory.

"Great. So, what the fuck we do now?" Baird shouted to the open, his words echoing around from the walls. "I really don't see how it could get any worse!"

"We're alive, aren't we?" Dom replied, looking around the caverns for some sign of getting back up. "I guess we should find some way of finding out where we are, right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Marcus growled, pulling out his shotgun. "We're going down that path," he pointed at the winding mid-air zigzag of earth that looked like it would allow one person at a time to pass," and then we're finding a way out of here. Let's move."

"Sounds just like before, minus the actual objective," Dom said, grimly shrugging as the all pulled whatever alternative weapon they had out. Marcus, Dom, Howard and Cole had out their Gnasher Shotguns. Carey had a 'salvaged' Hammerburst gun out, while Richard and Baird had pistols out. Mark was lucky enough to have saved one of the smaller SMG's from earlier at the ship, and loaded it with one of the three clips he still had. The chief had his Battle rifle out, and checked the scope as he did, realizing he was one of the last ones to have anything that could actually aim effectively.

Walking down the path wasn't as easy, or as hard as some predicted. The worst was either falling to a almost certain death or being caught in an area completely in the open with nothing to effectively respond to far weapons fire. Nothing happened as they walked, but the occasional crumble of pebbles kept them on their feet.

Finally after a good thirty minutes of silent walking, they one by one stepped into the complete ground, which seemed unusually flat and smooth, which was not in contrast to the higher areas above them, rocky and uneven.

"This place really feels weird. These holes aren't emergence holes…but what are they?" Mark asked, getting close to one but staying a good distance away, as the smooth ground he stood on curved at the edge of the hole.

"Those are empty Imulsion rivers."

The Chief turned to Baird. "Imulsion?"

"Our source of energy is Imulsion," started the private as they walked around the large hole, which was mostly dark and void of light," which is essentially compressed energy and heat into a glutinous form that can be harvested and broken down into pure, raw energy." They finally got past the first hole, only to find a larger one, at and angle, seeming to grant access into a tunnel.

"Sounds important," The Chief started, looking into the tunnel.

"Yeah- it replaced Nuclear energy, Fossil fuels, almost anything it has the ability to replace. The only problem is that it's dangerous in just about any form you can get because of it's heat and radiation. Something that's been compressed for…we don't know how long has dangers to it." Baird continued his lecture, drawing the stares of most of Alpha squad.

"We know it's found only naturally in a semi-liquid form, normally useless unless purified, and that it kills almost anything organic that falls in it very quickly. We also know that it has quality to it-"

"Wait, you sayin' that juice can be better than normal?" Cole asked his close friend as they all walked down the dark tunnel, which shone bright yellow light at the very end, slanted down but at a horizontal angle.

"Four known classes of Imulsion, ok?" Baird listed off, counting off with each of his fingers," D class, or average stuff. Oxygenated and less pure from contamination, usually found in places like this. C, which is better, stronger and more dangerous- about twice the value and energy per square liter than class D. B, is the best found, which is rarely exposed Imulsion. Best there is to date, almost five times the efficiency of class D. Also very dangerous."

"Class 'A'?" The chief asked, sure that it must be the best.

"No class a. After B, it stops. We haven't found anything better than B. Only E. dried and hardened Imulsion, which are crystals that are sharp, fragile, and are very light reflective; they don't do anything else but shine light at you," Baird said as they got closer to the end, now everyone listening in on the information.

"There is a Class A."

Baird stared at Carey, who was expressionless and dark as he always was, but stared back at Baird. "Hypothetically, yeah there is-"

"Imulsion Class A; Sepharium, God's Gold, and Coopers Hypothesis. All are names for it." Carey began his usual staring ahead, watching the light get closer, as another cliff loomed ahead.

"Wait, I heard of Coopers Hypothesis," Mark said, his eyes wide," that was an argued topic for methods quantum mathematics, the plausible substance so powerful that it could actually ignore some rules of physics. That right?"

"What they hell- is that even possible?" Dom gasped as he listened harder. "Isn't it impossible to do things like that?"

"Imulsion A is theoretical. It's Helen Coopers prediction that if Immulsion was gathered and crushed constantly, and repeatedly, gathering more and more substance to it, but was not exposed to oxygen, it could reach a level of purity that if harnessed could pass hypothetical Matter-anti-matter power, by about three times."

"No way." Marcus turned around, stopping at the entrance of the tunnel to face Baird. "I know about that stuff, anit matter, and that is the strongest form, no question about it."

"They also say," Carey continued, ignoring the others, which gathered their attention," that Class A when exposed would produce radiation on three sections of the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible Light, gamma radiation, and low-frequency radio waves. It gives off music."

"Which is ridiculous, because," added Baird," this thing shouldn't be able to exist because of mining of the last eighty years and the discovery of the mass of tunnels under the crust. Aside from the time, pressure, heat- everything to make this is just-"

Screech.

In a flash movement, the entire group re-focused back on the new open cavern, which was similar to the last, only it had the yellow light of a very small Imulsion lake at the bottom. Small figures where hopping around natural bridges that crossed the lakes of light, looking like glowing apes.

"Great. Wretches are here." Marcus started leaning close to the edge, but was suddenly pulled back by Baird. "What?"

"Don't get close to the edge. Look-" the blond pointed to a steady flow of steam jetting out of a tunnel not to far away. The steam was bright yellow.

"What's that exactly?" Dom asked, also staring at the vent.

"I… think that's Imulsion," Baird stated.

"You said Imulsion was a-" Cortana started.

"Class F, another hypothetical form of Imulsion. If something super-heated this stuff, the juice would boil up and expand, evaporating and having the energy blast out, but leaving the other stuff behind, namely a little substance called Soelstain. Completely useless, and dangerous is inhaled." Baird nodded to the right, away form the vent. "You know what Soelstain is?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Do you?" The Chief asked, now wondering something to the point where it distracted him. Baird was a private, an average grunt soldier sent to kill and die. But he so far knew more than the rest of the group put together did- in the tunnels about Locust, in the ship about technology, and now about Imulsion.

Baird snorted. "Doesn't matter. Lets move."

With that the others seemed to simply forget about the strange vault of information and continue on. The chief stayed back brief thinking.

"Cortana." He whispered to the AI.

"Yeah?" She responded.

"Baird- what do you think?"

"Well, he certainly seems to know about what he's talking about. I wouldn't put it past him to have been a good student at some point chief, just that."

"Maybe." He still couldn't shake yet again, another feeling. Rather than fear, it was uncertainty and suspicion.

Walking down a curved and slanted slope, the finally found themselves at where the Wretches had been running off from. The low levels of Imulsion on either side glowed hot as they passed. The occasional jutting up and down had them again on the tope of their toes, not wanting a bath in the terrible substance on either side of them.

Yet at the end of this natural bridge, a wall stood in there way. No tunnels, no ways of getting around, the wretches had disappeared completely.

"Where… where to?" Richard said out loud, unsure of what was next.

He earth shot up, blasting dirt into the air as the men all stumbled back. A group of wretches had leapt up, clobbering Richard, who had stumbled up against the wall, avoiding the claws of the small beast as the others avoided the attack.

"Underneath!" Howard pointed the other mounds he was sure where submerged wretches, all waiting for the moment to attack.

"On surface!" Baird shouted back sarcastically as he smashed one of the beasts with his pistol.

Richard had recovered and dodged a lunge from one of the wretches, landing uncomfortably close to the ledge of the solid ground and close to the Imulsion. Seeing that the same wretch was coming again, he aimed his pistol and got several shots in it just as it leapt at him, and fell right past him, spilling into the hot substance below. The hot material splashed up, and narrowly missed Richard's face, smashing next to him, which was more than enough to encourage him to get up.

The shotguns, which ironically where the only option after loosing the majority of long ranged rifles, were doing a marvelous job of blasting the Wretches apart and into the hot liquid. Only Carey seemed to be having a problem, as he was constantly evading attacks and not smashing them back with a quick swipe of his gun. After a lucky dodge which had the wretch topple into Imulsion, he was able to help the others with his perfect aiming.

Even as more and more wretches cam up, the group seemed to be handling themselves, most of the work by the shotguns and the Chief, who was able to just attack them without his weapon- his hard armor doing enough damage as it was. Then the ground shook, a loud, low, and terrible moan shook the cavern itself.

The Wretches no longer seemed to notice the gears or the Spartan, as they turned and fled, climbing up the wall to escape whatever it was they tried to. After a moment, the soldiers stopped their attacks, realizing something had actually scared them off.

"Ok… what now?" Dom groaned as again the terrible moan shook the ground, the last fleeing Wretches crying in panic.

Baird stared at the other side of the cavern, from where they had come from. Concentrating, he still stared. Again, the roar sounded.

"A Rock Worm." Baird's face was sweating, and he looked pale. "Anyone know what they are?"

"Little worms right?" the ground began to vibrate after Mark's snide remark. "Ok, please tell me they aren't as big as I think they are."

"This is not good," Baird said, again staring at the wall as the shaking got worse.

Then the wall they all faced crumbled like dust, and something behind the dust screamed as they all held their ears. All but the Chief, who stared at the largest living being, aside form the grave mind, he had ever faced.

* * *

Yes. that is it for now. You happy guys? I am. I got more info, and then some action at the end which will continue for most of next chapter.

Oh, and for you guys who are interested in the Gears of War 2 that's coming out soon, maybe you should o some research… you might get some clues on where I am leading…

But for now, I leave off this chapter, satisfied that again I have returned with a longer chapter than the previous, jam packed with info and action. Hope you're satisfied!

Seeya next week, no not Monday, next Friday! And I'm going to Frostburg university for a week, so sorry if next ones are either late of crappy.

Yeah, so seey- (Orahime from _Bleach _walks up, holding a leek) ... can i help you?

Orahime: (begins singing Loituma Techno remix, twirling the leek around)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO(Gets turned inside out)


	29. The Monster

Edited by Nod-Flareon

The cavern wall smashed and fell apart, revealing the massive creature that was the Rock Worm. Close to the same height as the Brumak the Chief had taken care of not several hours previous, the worm's monstrous head was alone easily as tall as the entire height of one Brumak. Eyes like a spider, shining black with no pupil of any kind; it stared at them, a terrible aberration.

Opening its jaw-less mouth, a second fleshy section of its face started to emerge out. A second jaw, eyeless and pulsating, it had tendrils similar to any insects, but rather the size of a small crane. It looked like it had puked out a section of it's intestines that just so happened to have a mouth attached.

"Fuck me."

"Rather not," a distracted Mark responded to Richard, who still stared, opened mouthed at the monstrosity.

"Anyone want to commit suicide now?" Baird asked, looking at his pistol like he had a rock for a weapon. The average feeling was now hopelessness. Only the Chief took a step foreword, staring down almost certain death. Raising his rifle and glaring through the scope, he spied the fleshy area, and pulled the trigger once. The row of bullets hit, and sounded like they stuck.

"Great," he said, lowering the gun, his first idea completely gone. "Cortana?"

"You got me Chief- I don't know anything about it or its biology aside from the fact that it's huge!" The AI responded rather desperately.

"And don't look at me," Baird shouted his eyes darting around the ground in thought," I don't know anything about these! Rock Worms have only been officially spotted twice!"

"He's not alone" Marcus growled, staring at the top of the creature, as it slowly squirmed out of the massive hole. A lone figure, the size of a Theron Guard walked out, just on top of the monster. Wearing similar armor to the general the Chief had encountered, but red and black instead of standard dark colors, it wore a headdress helmet that stood up a foot or two, apparently signifying its class.

"NO WAY!!" Baird gasped, staring at the newly come Locust," A Kantus!"

"Great, what the hell do they do exactly?" Dom said, as the Locust stood atop the worm, staring at them, growling some sort of language.

"Another version of the Theron Guard- they're like priests on a battlefield! They can get the injured Locust up and going again, and have been reported to command larger beasts while The Theron Guards command soldiers," Baird said, getting faster and faster as the Kantus howled and the Worm began crawling out little by little, displaying a fleshy underbelly, and a powerful shiny shell surrounding it's main body.

Eventually it curled up, similarly to a cobra, the Locust still atop the head of the beast, and its head atop its body. The worm made another snarl like growl, saliva dripping from its still extended jaw.

"Baird, you had better have an idea or I will feed you to it," Marcus shouted desperately as they all began to step back.

"Does 'Running Away' count for an idea??" Baird whimpered as the worm suddenly trashed out, and began flying toward them, sliding on the ground like a massive snake.

"Good enough!!" Mark screamed as they all turned, and ran full pelt away from the advancing beast. The ground ended close however, and they soon ran into the same wall the Wretches had come to run up and away from the monstrous beast. The beast continued, even as they stopped, turning to face the coming doom.

"Just move aside as it's about to hit," The chief said, readying himself to sprint aside before it smashed them against the wall. "Now!"

"The Worm made contact with none of them, each one being able to dart to the side, as it smashed into a the wall. The Kantus riding the monster laid down, and disappeared with the top of the monster as it slid through the wall, disappearing from view as it's massive entirety slid away. Finally, the groups could see each other again.

"Great. We can avoid it, now how do we stop it?" Howard said, looking at his weapon in his hand. "I doubt a shotgun is going to do much against that damn thing."

"Imulsion, I bet it could will kill it," Baird said, staring into the glowing liquid churning from the rumble of the Rock Worm," it kills anything if it's exposed directly to it for too long."

"So," Marcus began, "we have our little worm go for a swim and we can get out of this mess?"

"That sounds like a logical plan for this group," Cortana added," if you can get it into the substance without killing yourself in the process."

"Leave that to me," The chief sounded, sure he knew what steered the monster. His idea was simple, kick off the Kantus, and then drive the monster into the Imulsion. The only question was how to get on the thing that was as massive as a dinosaur, and tougher than one. "you all keep it distracted, run around and keep it's attention on you. I'll get rid of its boss."

"Yeah, easy job for you!" Baird growled to the chief.

"Want to do it for me?"

Baird scoffed, but didn't retaliate.

"Alright, we're going over there," Marcus pointed to another, larger area in the Imulsion filled cavern to a natural platform at least twice as wide as the one they currently stood on. "You had better use your big monkey Spartan self to kick some ass before we're worm chow."

The chief nodded, but was tempted to ask 'monkey Spartan self' back at the sergeant. From behind them, the rumbling started again. The worm was returning. So the chief ran, getting distance just as the others began their run. He got far ahead of them, turned, and stopped to face the now shaking wall from where they once were. They all ran by him, as he prepared to start running again. He would need to get all the speed he could to get as high as he needed to be. Luckily for him, he spotted a large boulder jutting out of the Imulsion, just tall enough for a well needed boost of height.

The wall broke, and the Soldier started his run. As the Worm howled again and broke free of the side of the cavern, the Chief turned for the boulder, and continued to gain speed, his feet making mini-quakes of their own, as a metric ton began to gain speed. The Monster spotted him, and the Kantus apparently approved of its next action as it began to dive for the chief.

The Spartan leapt, flying for the Boulder, and the worm changed its path, spotting the divide of Imulsion as an obstacle. The Chief continued his momentum as he grabbed a section of the rock, pulled around, and slingshot himself to the Kantus, who unfortunately had been watching the Spartan's progress. Landing right next to the Locust, the Chief aimed a punch into the Kantus' skull, just as it avoided the attack to retaliate with a kick to the Spartan's side.

The kick was strong, very strong. Enough to push the Spartan back a foot to the side. Again he struck out for the Locust as the Worm continued on. The Kantus avoided the attack completely, grabbed the back of his armor, and used his own momentum to redirect his attack to fall off the worm, right into the Imulsion.

Grabbing wildly, the chief grabbed a strange stump tendril along the side of its body, halting his fall into the super-hot substance. Rubbery and tough, he held to it as hard as he could. Finally, the Kantus ran over, and attempted to stomp the Spartan off the worm, which as the chief looked down its body, saw that it was still chasing the Gears, weaving left and right after them. Looking back up, the Kantus landed a clean stomp on his helmet, and he slipped his grip, again grabbing another stub on its side.

Finally, his grip slipped, and he fell, just past the Imulsion and onto the ground. Rolling from the impact, he quickly got back up, watching as the worm again crashed into a wall, driving its head into the solid rock as if it were dust. Its entire body again disappeared, and the scattered group found themselves walking to the center, heaving form all the running.

"Great," Richard gasped," once it passes us, it can't get us."

"But we can't get it, period!" Cole growled, who seemed the most likely to charge in the still open hole where the worm had veered off into. "Damn what would I do for a roasted worm on a plate!"

"I don't think its skin can be penetrated with what we have," Carey breathed, staring at the ground, actually sitting down among the group. "We really need to dump this thing into Imulsion."

"I'm good with that plan," Marcus added, finally catching his breath and standing up to the Chief. "You had some trouble up there?"

The Spartan nodded. "They're tougher than I thought. Better at unarmed combat than Theron Guards."

"Great," Marcus growled again, staring at the indentions where the monstrous worm had carved out of the ground. "So we need a way to get close enough, but at the same time, get far enough away so that it can't throttle us, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

The group sighed collectively. Finally sitting down, they realized how much of an impossible creature this was to kill. Of all the things they had come across, the situation seemed worse than any other, aside from two against a single general on a train heading for certain death via Imulsion. Or the time the entire Ark was going to explode but they got away just in time to land on the planet. OR the one time a berserker had decided to start pummeling a passing cargo truck Alpha Squad happened to be in, and they got away with it completely cooked.

"I've been through worse," The chief said, staring at the Imulsion, trying to conceived a method of victory.

"Same here… I think." Marcus said, staring around at his squad.

"Uh-" Mark spoke up, unsure if to add. "We've been through bad stuff. But we have time to learn… I guess."

The Spartan stared at the ground, the wall, and then an imaginary Rock Worm, Bursting through the wall in his mind. His weapon at the moment, his battle rifle was perfect, if it got the perfect range. But he saw that as a near impossibility, as he saw how fast the locust was on top of the Worm. So, he thought of another way. Moving his vision to the two squads watching him, he found the answer.

Looking into the ledge that the platform had before descending into the Imulsion, the chief knew there was a way. He just had to be sure that whoever was going to do it was ready for it.

"Sergeant Fenix," the chief suddenly said, surprising the experienced soldier.

"What? You got something?" The Sergeant walked over, just as the rumbling started up again.

"There's no time, just stay still."

The chief grabbed the armor around the Sergeant, and literally lifted him off his feet and held him like a turret. The other squads stared, but the tremors got louder.

"Uh, Chief?" Marcus slowly said, realizing that the others were backing away, seeing as how the rumbling was growing louder and louder by the second," you want to fill me in on the details? Maybe tell me why aren't we moving aside… or why you're holding me like this?"

"When I say go," the chief explained, as calmly as he could," jump and shoot right for the Kantus."

"Wait," Marcus's eyes widened, and he looked up," you're going to throw me!?"

"Get ready-" the chief pushed back, feeling his and Marcus's weight shift off his normal balance. The wall again started to crumble, as the Worm again emerged. Its fleshy mouth open and snarling as it made right for the two by the ledge, the Chief again made straight for the monster. Each step was harder and harder, but he eventually had the speed to lunge. "Go!"

"Shiit!" Marcus yelled as he was thrown, head first just above the head of the worm. The Chief just missed the open mouth of the creature, and smashed into its side, falling past it as roughly as he had before, spinning near uncontrollably, until he finally stopped.

Marcus pulled his shotgun out in one hand, pointed it in front of him, still in mid air, and pulled the trigger. The Kantus, possibly twenty feet away from him, snarling as he soared above, received a mild blast, stumbling back as the Gear landed harshly behind it. Turning to face the still stumbling Kantus, Marcus cocked the shotgun once, walked up to the recovering Locust, and fired at it's torso, blowing it's entire upper body apart, it's lower arms falling to the ground, it's head shattering and coating the parts of the worm in brains, guts and blood while the still standing legs fell backwards, spilling whatever was left at Marcus' feet.

"Got it!" Marcus shouted, looking down at the others. "I got it- oh shit!" he turned and saw the worm not turning from the lake of yellow glowing liquid just ahead of them. Deciding to run to the back of the beast, he began to hurtle run to the end of the worm, which ironically made him look like he was running in mid air, as the worm was slithering around the same speed to what he was running at.

The Worm, just before it realized it was about to go face first into the Liquid hell, veered left, and into a wall, but not before a large section of it's fleshy underbelly was scorched from falling into the Imulsion. It paused its movement, having Marcus flip around from the sudden stop of inertia, land on his back and fall off the smaller tail section of the worm. After a moment, it continued to whimper and push itself into the dirt, clearing its path into the ground. Finally, after catching itself drifting into Imulsion twice more, it slithered away completely, leaving the dismantled body of its rider behind.

"…What now?" Mark said, pulling up Marcus and nodding to him. "Do we hang around, or what?"

"No, we should probably follow it," Baird shouted from the back of the group, just getting past Cole as he did. "All locust head back home when they're defeated- or die in honor. I'm not sure anyone has seen a Rock Worm retreat yet, but we should follow it-"

"What?" Dom asked, turning to face Baird as if he had just seen a monster suddenly burst from the blonde's chest. "We follow that thing? Just after it damn near ate us or smushed us flat?"

"It's going to want to heal, and to do that," Baird growled back," it needs to head to a safe place- a Locust fortress. Where I'm sure they might have an emergence hole somewhere to get the hell out of this place."

"Alright," Marcus said suddenly, loading the Shotgun again, spinning it as he did," we're going after it."

"And to think," Richard breathed," we were just trying to get rid of it a moment ago… now we want it to come back."

"Yeah, I know man," Dom lightly said back.

"Lets get moving then."

The nine men walked into the hole created by one of the largest locusts abominations ever known. The glistening and simmering Imulsion left behind bubbled suddenly, as a large bubble formed, and popped. Gasses escaping from the bubble, they floated up and into the many holes within the ceiling. The Imulsion had began to boil.

It was only a matter of time the collected vaporized Imulsion would escape.

* * *

Bwuhahah! Tis shorter! Im an Medieval man! (starts to dance)

Ahh, anyway, about that little delay… the time I was up in Frostburg was WORTH IT! OMG AWESOME WIN! Epic win for all I care! Only I had no time whatsoever to even LOOK at my story progress. Yeah, sorry about that.

But I did come back with some action, right? Riiight?

So, as far as chapters are concerned, Friday may not always be the best for now on. I'll always try to get at least once per week, but I can not honestly say any more.

So yeah, before I go, two last things to say-

Next time I post a chapter for this story, my poll goes down, so if you still want a chance to decide on my next 'writing' project, you might wanna get over there in the next week or so. And in the meantime, go spend five minutes and read my other story! I promise you, even if you don't have any clue what it is about, it is a worthy read, and you will understand the story in due time.

So seeya guys, and hope to post this weekend once again!

EZB

OH WAIT!

First off, I need to die from last chapter- (Reptile jumps into the room, from Mortal Kombat)

About time you friggen showed up- (Gets swallowed by Reptile, who chews for a moment, and then spits out a row of bones, forming a Skelton, only to fall apart. The Real EZB shows up behind him and pats him on the shoulder)

Thanks. And now for this weeks death… wtf could it be?

(some blonde dude, holding a bible runs up, pointing at EZB) Strange person: I decree upon thou, face divine intervention; OUR LORDS WRATH!! (lightning and fire rains down like a laser form the sky)

WOW HOLY SHIIIIIT!! (is vaporized)


	30. Skrimish to the Surface

Warning! The following chapter is considered very long for the usual chapter length of this story. It is recommended that if you have been reading non-stop up to this point, you take a small break and rest yourself before continuing.

You have been warned.

* * *

"Well…" Baird started, narrowly avoiding what could have been long streak of worm blood.

"Don't even start," Marcus growled back to him.

"What? I- I wasn't going to say anything!"

"Yeah," Richard said, who had stepped in the puddle, and was frantically trying to scrape the stains off on a jagged rock," 'cus no one likes to speak up when they're about to bitch."

"Hey," Baird turned, walking backwards so he could face him," I don't bitch! I analyze pessimistically."

"Yeah. So you bitch."

Both squads and the chief had been following the wounded rock worm down its new hole for almost an hour. The worm itself had completely disappeared, leaving traces of itself through blood and of course the tunnel it had made. And they had walked, as suggested, on after the beast with the hopes of finding a way to the surface. It had only hit the chief on where they were going; possibly into the heart of the enemy's power.

The chief had stayed behind the rest. Aside from making sure nothing followed them, like the wretches from before, he used his distance to think. So far, he realized that the locust didn't seem to have a ground based encampment, or even base; which pointed them to either being underground or from space. And seeing how the only things in space so far had been him, the ship, and the Hammer of Dawn Satellites, he ruled that out completely.

So in a moment he realized they not only where trekking deep within the enemies territory, but they were also heading right for a base of operations, where the defenses were likely to be stronger than they had seen yet. Altogether another walk through hell.

"Baird, are you sure this was a good idea?" Marcus asked, just above a whisper.

"What? Yes!" replied the aggravated blond. "We need to get above ground, don't we? We found out the compound was abandoned, so we can get out of here, and the best way to do that is an emergence hole!"

"Sounds like a stroll through thorns if you ask me," Dom darkly said over to Marcus, who glanced over to him in response.

"Listen man," Cole piped up," 'long as we get outa here and bring some pain to dem, I'm cool with any shit our way!"

"So sayeth the legendary number 83," Mark chuckled at Coles' outright readiness.

"Hell yeah baby!"

Marcus, scanning the walls around them, spotted a slight turn in the tunnel. It was only a minute before getting close enough that they found the tunnel opened up just after the turn. A light Breeze, warmer than the cold stale air around them whipped past suddenly.

"Guys, looks like we got ourselves an exit," Marcus shot back to the group behind him. The tunnel, finally opening up, finally showed them something other than circular rooms, or caverns. A carved out section of earth, larger than the actual tunnel, shone light right for them. Directly in front of them, what looked like a massive squashed cylinder from ceiling to floor sat, while plenty of bubble looking buildings encircled the main shape, the tops of all the shapes were just visible above a tall wall circling the mass of objects that was a Locust fortress. What remained of the path of the worm continued to turn into the source of light, which as they finally stepped out, saw was a breach in surface. The worm had tunneled out of a cliff, which seemed to be in a sheer drop, hundreds of feet down.

"Man," Dom whispered, walking over to the huge whole. Richard whistled, amazed at the drop, and the sight of the dead creature.

"I think the fall killed it," Mark said, as he walked over and glanced down. Richard, Baird and Marcus all slowly turned to him. The Sergeant finally spotted their stares. "Hey, it's a fair statement."

"No shit! It could take anyone above the I.Q. of nine to figure that out!" Baird spat at him, before growling and turning away to the others, who had been staring at the large base underground, which was lit by various tainted yellow lights.

"Thanks… asshole," Mark grumbled. He glanced once more over the ledge, taking in the sights that were an open span of wild forest without a single bit of civilization in them, before turning back with the others.

"So this is a locust fortress," Howard started, slowly taking in the sight," I imagined it… smaller."

"Oh no, this is the underground orphanage that-" Baird started on again, only to receive a murderous glare from the older soldier," yes, it's a locust fortress."

"So," Marcus continued," how do we get in, and how do we get out?"

"Don't you mean up?" Mark grinned, staring at the wall.

"This place looks like it was abandoned a while ago anyway," Baird started, spotting something to their left. "It should be safe to look through and find a way out," he started walking to the area, to find a broken piece of the wall that had been leveled by a fallen boulder that had shattered as well.

"Wait, wait," Richard stayed behind, hesitant with the idea of going in that direction. "Our great plan is to walk into a Locust fortress-"

"An abandoned Locust fortress," Baird reminded him.

"Which is still a locust fortress!" Richard shouted back, staring at the broken area of wall where they had started to walk to. "There aren't any records of things like this- let alone soldiers going in, and ever coming out!"

"You got a better idea Rich?" Mark called out from the front, turning to face his long time friend. "Then lets move- Chief?" he had spotted the Spartan also behind the others, glaring up at the large complex of subterranean structures.

The Chief, in his unusual ability to know things in war and crisis, felt something again. Not a terrible fear, but an uncertainty. Something he felt every time something was forgotten, or left behind, or when he walked into an ambush. The feeling was gripping him even as he stared up at the tower which supposedly brought them back to the surface, and into safer territory. If that was what he could really call it, it seemed like no where was safe so far.

"Chief?"

Master Chief stared back, looking at the group, whom had paused in wait for him. Even Richard had begun his walk, though still was unhappy with the choice of location. The green soldier nodded and started walking as well.

The group of nine continued, stepping through, or in some cases, over the wall and its pieces. The wall was thick, supported internally by strange black metal which shone brightly with the gears personal lights. The wall's stone looked similar to a type of black marble. Shiny and very strong looking, they cautiously started out into the locust fortress.

Immediately walking into the 'path' ahead of them that lead to what might have been the main building, they all mentally agreed that this place was devoid of life. No bodies, no weapons, no signs of locust or strandeds.

"Nice homes," Dom said jokingly, counting the similar box homes that seemed to line all around like perfectly planned out city blocks. "They really color out the locust's main good. They all look the same." Howard chuckled to this as Richard laughed lightly.

"They could use a new decorator," Richard said, stopping for a moment to glance in one building, which seemed as boring and cubical as the exterior.

"Don't lag behind!"

Richard's smile lessened at Marcus's sudden strictness. The leader of Delta squad looked odd. His face seemed unreadable, as his eyes were glazed over. He was deep in thought.

"What's biting him, hu?" Richard whispered to Cole, leaning over to avoid any listeners.

"You got me man," Cole said back, staring at the leader," he likes movin', but that wasn't like 'em."

"Looks like my idea was a good one, hu?" Baird boasted, smiling to himself as they finally arrived at the large door entrance of the fortress main structure.

"Holy… god," Howard breathed, taking in the size of the building, stretching all the way up to the ceiling.

"Don't know if he can hear ya man," Mark turned, checking the general status of the others. "Baird," the other blond man turned, smiling and expecting a huge amount of gratitude," are you sure about this?"

"What- Yes! We haven't run into anything, have we? No signs of anything that could hurt us, right?" he glanced at the others, whom while looking at him, also considered his argument. "Right!?"

"One way or another," Marcus growled, again staring at the building," this is our way out, no discussion. Let's get this thing open." The entrance had a large metallic door standing blocking the way in, similar to a gate. Yet the massive object had a smooth, flat surface, and there was no indication of a way to activate it.

"See any switches?" Marcus asked, sounding awkward after his tough order to be stopped by a door.

"I don't…" Dom glanced around the gated entrance, spying with Mark for a trigger or button," see anything."

"Lemme try!" Cole walked up, placing his weapon back, and stretching out his arms. Getting up against the wall with his shoulder, he planted both feet, bared his teeth and the Cole train shoved with every ounce of energy. Surprising, or not, the group did hear a moan of sound coming form the door. Yet no movement was visible, and Cole backed up, rubbing his shoulders in discomfort. "It'll move, we just need a cannon to do it for ya!"

"My turn."

The Gears turned and walked out of the way, standing at the side of the gate, as the chief started up to it, starting slow at first, and placing his rifle away. Then after a moment, he charged, leap, placing both feet ahead of him in a double kick straight for the blocked entrance. The two metallic things connected with a echoing boom. The chief fell back to his feet, standing, as the huge gate swung back.

"Nice going!" Mark shouted enthusiastically. "Let's move in-"

"What's it doing?" Richard suddenly asked, watching the progress of the giant gates swing.

Only then did the others notice, the gate wasn't attached on its side, but attached to the top of the gateway, and was swinging up rather on its side. It swung past the needed space for the others, and continued just feet of hitting the top of the interior building. And with a groan of metal and rock, the gate started swinging down. The group slowly back up, aware of how close they were to the object. And it was gaining speed.

"Stop… stop… st- shit!" Baird knew all to well what was about do happen.

As it swung back, whatever held it to the roof of the gateway broke. It snapped away and hurtled toward the group, who all turned away, and ran without a moments wait away form the gate, which had turned at an angle, and was about to land on its side.

"Split up and re-group after this thing stops!" Marcus screamed as he nearly dived into an alleyway that led through many of the box buildings.

"Yeah! Sure!" Baird growled as he and Cole leapt to the right.

The massive gate had began a destructive path, smashing into the neatly lined buildings on either side of the main 'street', as it bounced from each impact with the ground it made. The force created by each impact shook the ground, at least noticeably, the ceiling of the cavern. Stalactites cracked and fell, starting a rain of deadly rubble that smashed other box homes all lined neatly around. One by one each gear soldier found a spot and leapt to it, avoiding the huge gate as it continued to smash away. Finally the chief was the last runner, and decided to try something.

Stopping dead in his tracks, he bent backwards, and leapt behind himself, flipping as he nearly fell flat on his back. Diving backwards, he dived straight for the just landing gate. His timing was perfect, and he continued to fly for feet as the gate flew feet above him, and finally crashed one more time, landing perfectly straight, just before tilting backwards and smashing down onto the broken section of wall, reducing it further to pebbles.

Master Chief stood up slowly, wondering now if they were in for a serious fight; the noise was bad, but the reverberations probably were felt for a mile all around. If there were Locust anywhere near, they would have heard, let alone felt it, and would be coming any time.

Nothing was heard aside from several hacking coughs from the stirred up dust.

"That… was crazy," Mark hacked through several coughs. "How come everything we do has to end up in a struggle to survive!?"

"We have a way in now," Carey stated, his expressionless face and voice easily identifiable as he walked up to his sergeant and help him up. "We should use what time we have before something investigates the noise."

"Yeah," Marcus growled, still glaring at the massive main building of the fortress. The rest of the group had returned, all looking very shaken, but unharmed. "Let's move."

"Hold on," Dom said, getting to his feet slowly.

"We don't have the time to hold on, let's move!" Marcus nearly shouted, surprising the entire group with more of his near anger. The group behind him exchanged glances, but all the same followed him inside. Behind them all, the chief followed, staring at the damage caused by opening a gate.

Stepping inside, the others saw what looked like a vast open room, going on and on, flat black and grey reflective surface for the floor, which echoed each of their steps as the advanced inward. The huge room, possibly the size of an actual C.O.G. base was lined with pillars, stretching up to the ceiling, their base with a diameter of near ten feet. Grey all around with golden streaks going up and down, the pillars seemed to have grooves within them, possibly for climbing. The walls on either side seemed just beyond visual sight, and the opposite sides distance couldn't be determined.

Walking, and walking, and walking. Heavy boots echoing made it seem like thirty people had decided to have a silent parade in the Locust fortress. Marcus had decided by now that next time they were going to see any 'official' figures that they were to rename the fortress's' as citadels. It was just too vast of a building to be a simple little fortress. It seemed more like a city. Homes for living, walls for protection, massive main structure, it all seemed like some sort of medieval town, with small buildings, huge castles, and walls surrounding the whole thing.

"What's that up ahead?" Dom asked, his usual optimism in his voice absent, replaced with a soulless voice.

"Stairs. Big ones." Marcus spied ahead, and about a ten minutes ahead was a massive spiral staircase, leading up through the ceiling and down under the floor. Made of what seemed to be the same material as the wall, the stairs glistened in the faint light given off by the group.

"We may have found our way out!" Baird nodded, supremely assured in his victory against self-doubt. "I told you, hu? Right?" He glanced around again, happy to no ends.

"Marcus?" Dom asked suddenly.

"What?" responded a distracted leader.

"I think we need to stop soon."

"What?" Marcus Fenix turned and faced them, unbelieving in what he just heard. "Stop?"

"We've been moving for hours. We outran a Rock Worm, we've been walking for hours following the damn thing," Dom fought in facts.

"Not to mention," Mark added carefully," we outran a door. That's something I doubt anyone can say they lived from doing that."

"We can rest when we've gotten to the surface," Marcus started up the stairs, stomping on each step," when we're in a safer place."

"This is safe!" Baird cried out, almost shaken that people still refused to believe that his wisdom of choices was flawed. "We haven't seen a bit of Locust! No weapons, no bodies, no lives ones or dead-"

"Sergeant." The chief, although liked the idea of getting to the surface as soon as possible, recognized the need for a momentary rest. Even if they got to the surface, he felt sure that they wouldn't be that much safer then they might have been if they were down here. Marcus stared back at the Spartan, and seemed to give in.

"Fine. Top of the stairs, five minute break. Move."

Climbing the stairs was no problem. But the atmosphere between everybody seemed to be getting worse. Yet no explanations could be given; Fenix just seemed to be mad, or moody in here. They reached the next level after five minutes of climbing, and found themselves looking at a similar space. Rather, looking back in the direction they came from, a wall was present, with a single door, about ten feet by seven feet, stood as its only entrance. Maybe the way out.

"Ok, you want your break, lets do it over there," Marcus growled, and started for the door.

"Hey, we're just gunna sit tight here, ok?" Mark shouted back at him, sitting with his squad, Cole and Dom. Baird continued on, curious of what was behind the wall. The Chief as well continued to stay upright, and walked on, wondering what was causing the anger.

Marcus continued through the door, observing the new area; a hallway, the size of the doorway lead straight forward, only exiting one on either side for two doorways with similar size as the initial doorway. Lighter material comprising as the rock and stone that made the walls, roofs and floors, Marcus continued on, while Baird turned to the left and the chief to the right. Straight ahead, Marcus found what they were looking for; a rough tunnel leading dead up, the sides of the walls all marked and edged, perfect for climbing. _The emergence hole._ Turning around, he was sure they were fine.

"Hey Marcus, come here."

Marcus groaned, sure that Baird was ready to complain or perhaps boast some more. Yet as he turned to the choice doorway, he found another large room, nearly the size of four box buildings. Walls that came halfway up to the ceiling blocked the rest of the room from sight. Baird was squatting on the floor, staring at something behind one of the walls.

"C'mere," Baird again waved him over. As Marcus slowly stepped over, he spotted several dead Locust grunts, all covered in debris. The one Baird was observing had a smashed head, half of its skull shoved in by a rock, possibly from the one right next to it. Staring up, the sergeant located the source of rubble. Pieces of the roof had fallen out, and large chunks completely smashed on the floor.

"Looks like you found those bodies we were wondering about," Marcus complied, unshaken by the sight of locust. "Our break is going to be up soon, so dissect it now-"

"It doesn't make any sense."

"What?" Marcus paused, listening to Baird, who had a concerned stare in his eyes.

"Locust aren't supposed to abandon a base. If they have to, they take everything. I mean everything. Weapons," he pointed to a gun in the arms of the dead grunt," supplies, even fallen comrades. They take everything they can recycle for later use." He paused glancing back and forth in thought. He turned to face Marcus. "These are fresh. About five days old."

"That's about the same time we set off the Lightmass bomb."

"Yeah. This place isn't that badly damaged. A few broken places, sure. This room right here is most likely one of the few places that actually suffered serious damage from the bombs initial shockwave."

"What bomb?" The Chief had walked in, curious of what they were discussing.

"The Lightmass bomb; it used Imulsion to set off an explosion that we thought could completely eradicate all locust bases. The tunnels sucked up all the force though. We got about five percent of what we were looking for in damages. One day only did we get a pause in locust attacks, then the next day they continued as if nothing had happened." Baird explained in a rush. "If they had evacuated in a hurry, it would have made more sense. But this doesn't go with that kind of story! This place isn't even that damaged. If they evacuated slowly, why didn't they salvage what they could?"

"What are you saying exactly?" Marcus asked.

"I… don't know. All I know is that what we're seeing and what we have here don't go together."

"Chief," Marcus walked over to the door, and the Spartan followed.

"What?"

"When we got here," he started, his voice lowered to a near whisper," I thought I felt something. Not like someone was watching me, or anything like that, just some sort of… anxiety I guess." He waited, watching the chiefs reaction. "I thought this place wasn't safe. You can never tell when Locust really have left- they just do what the want; no check lists or order of operations, they just act."

"You think they are still here." Chief said in and undertone. "I know what you mean." He too recalled his sense of danger here, and how it still hadn't left.

"Right… what was in the other room, more bodies?" Marcus continued, raising his voice back to normal.

"No. Something I think you might want to look at."

The Chief started back to the opposite room. Marcus followed, and Baird continued after them after assuring himself of something concerning the dead grunt. In the opposite room, a large machine, unlike anything they had seen, was taking up most of the space within the room, appropriately the same size as the other room. A large screen panel was in the center of the rectangular shaped object, pipes running from the floor to the ceiling connected to the object. Several large keys with unreadable letters in a different language marked a huge keyboard. On the side several small, cylindrical shaped objects all stuck to a brighter colored pipe, unattached to the others. Each object attached had a small valve next to its connection. Everything appeared to be off, either from the lack of noise or movement.

The chief recognized the small objects.

_But another day, Demon._

The words of the General he had faced, general S.C.Y.T.H.E., still burned in his mind. The weapons he used, they same blades of light that mimicked the plasma sword the chief had used at the time, had handles that matched the ones attached to the lightly colored pipe. The plasma-like swords.

"These are the same weapons that the general we faced used," The chief exclaimed, certain that this was truth.

"The General?" Baird asked, observing the machine closely. "This thing makes something for him?"

The chief walked up to one of the small handles, and pulled it free from the piping, which came out with a click. Holding it out, he pushed his hand around its surface, looking for an activation of some sort. Pushing a small circle at the end of the blade down, a flash of light erupted upward, yellow and gleaming. Baird leapt backwards, and Marcus took a step back, amazed at the weapon.

"That's like your blue one, the blue sword thing," Marcus pointed out, getting a step closer to view the weapon.

"That might be powered by Imulsion… but, hold on-"Baird turned to the machine, took his pistol out, and began to bash one side of the machine with its butt, hammering into the side. After several hard poundings, he pulled out a panel, and stuck his head inside. "They actually have an Imulsion cleanser inside this thing!" Baird scrambled back out, and also pulled out a small mechanism resembling a car engine. One either ends were small ports for attaching a piping of sorts.

"Cleanser?" Marcus inquired, staring at the small object.

"I told you about Imulsion levels, remember?" Baird remarked absentmindedly. "We, humans, are able to harvest it and clean it. But we can't purify it any further than what the level of purity already is. This technology," he raised up the small object," has been hypothesized to be able to raise efficiency of Imulsion by forty five percent!" Baird waited for shocked faces. The two just watched him with ordinary unexcited expressions.

"Is that a lot?" Baird resisted the urge for a snide comeback to Marcus's question.

"Yes… it is. It's not raising the quality from a 'C' to a 'B' or anything like that, but this could allow an entire city block a years worth energy with just seven months worth energy."

"Sounds pretty good."

"I want to find out how this thing works. Gimme ten minutes!" Baird got back on his knees, and started for the whole in the machine.

Starting inside the machine, he bumped his shoulder against the side, which coincidentally had the switch for power on the machine. A loud whir chased Baird outside of it, and a puff of smoke burst out of the hole and covered his face with black smudge. The Whirring grew loud enough to eclipse Bairds sentence of swearing, and echoing was heard thumping all around the building. Behind them, as they listened, the chief whirled around, and leapt out into the hallway. He stopped, frozen. Marcus and Baird, after clearing the black material from his eyes, followed after him.

"What?!"

They all stopped. A single wretch stood, staring back, apparently as surprised to see them as they were it. Its mouth hanging out in shock and its eyes wide, the others slowly raised their guns, not wanting to provoke any screams or sudden movements in case there were more.

"Guys!" Mark shouted from the far back," what's going on?"

"Damn." Marcus growled as the Wretch seemed to regain its anger and ferociousness, as it curled in, preparing for a loud screech. "Kill it."

The Chief, Marcus, and Baird emptied their weapons cartridges, and the wretch whimpered as each bullet found its mark, splattering its body all over the floor and walls. Five seconds was enough to destroy it, six was enough to dismember it. They shot till there was nothing left but stains.

Once the bullets stopped, Baird ran back inside, and flipped the switch off. The whirring died down, and the echoing of the bullets died away. They all waited, in fear of screaming. Each one praying that they hadn't any other encounters coming.

No screams were heard. No panting, no footsteps.

"That was way to close." Marcus let his shotgun drop down momentarily, relaxing his grip.

"Ok, so I missed one wretch that stuck behind, my bad-" Baird started.

The one thing they had feared came to be. A single echoing screech, raspy and terrible shot out from the same direction the other wretch had come from, the emergence hole.

"…Shit?" Baird asked, the color in his face disappearing quickly.

"Back up. Back up. Back up!" Marcus repeated over and over as the rumbling of feet and wretches actually shook the ground.

Just as they back out of the hallway and into the massive room on the second floor, the others, who had shot up at the gunfire and screaming, rejoined them, and raised their weapons. Wretches began climbing down. A good sized group, about twenty it seemed. But they were being funneled in a relatively tight space. So Marcus grinned, aimed with the others in a mock firing squad, and they released their safeties.

Nine different weapons sprayed down the hallway, crushing the twenty or so wretches as they all tried to reach the end, only to be caught by a bullet. After moments, all the wretches were dead.

"Please be all, please be all," Mark prayed, staring at the staircase.

"No way is that it," Cortana shot out suddenly. "I detected massive movement right when that rumbling began. Twenty doesn't cover what I caught." Master Chief decided to find out what they were dealing with; he ran quickly over to the emergence hole, and stared up. Again, he was subconsciously glad he had his helmet on, or the others would have seen his mouth fall open.

A very tall and climbing tunnel was their destination up. Only, it was covered in hundreds of hundreds of wretches, some watching him, growling and drooling in disgusting hunger, while some, as he saw, were climbing into holes in the tunnel. And there were enough that they could continue to do this without becoming spares in number. Then one howled, and leapt at him.

"Chief…" Cortana gasped. "Get us out of here!"

That was enough for the chief. He turned, and ran for his life.

"There go my dreams," Mark sighed.

"Go!" he waved at the others, screaming. "Run! Get back to the stairs!"

"We can hold them here!" Marcus said, confused one why the Spartan had run past them already. The green armored man simply pointed to the ceiling, and all the others glanced up, and stared. The ceiling was covered in holes. And screeches started to blast out of them. "Take that back, time to leave!"

"What about the exit?!" Baird screamed as they all turned, and ran for the stairs. Yet as they ran, they all realized that hundreds were pouring out from the small hallway, and hundreds more were pouring out from the ceiling holes. Thousands had been hiding, waiting for something to come. And they sounded hungry.

"Screw! The! Exit!" Dom shouted as they all pelted straight for the stairs. Cole was first to topple down the strangely spaced stairs, immediately followed by Dom. Then Richard, Howard, Baird, Mark, Marcus, and Carey all rolled down the stairs, hitting each step with a heavy impact. The chief watched the strange avalanche of swearing, cursing, grunting and stomping. The end of the stairs, each one slammed into the ground, grunting in the landing. After Carey just avoiding smashing into the large pile of gears, he too slipped and slid several feet away from the stairs. The Chief landed from a long jump, and oddly too slipped and toppled down, actually managing to crack the floor.

More screeches echoed as the group got back to their feet, and pelted to the doorway, hopefully getting to the smashed open way. Yet as they ran, more wretches seemed to crawl from the gateways top, and onto the ceiling.

"Back to the stairs!" They all screeched in stop, and headed back to the stairs, just as the flow from the floor above came into sight. Marcus spotted the staircase leading down. "Down! Down!"

Without a moments hesitation, they all turned to the right side of the case, and took it down, and as they ran down, they each glanced back up, seeing the flow of wretches spill out form the ceiling, the stairs, like a flood of water.

Once off in the stairs, they noticed that again the floor was much similar to the floor above, only in the direction where the emergence hole should have been, a single large room, with a large black door, was their only refuge. With no holes in the ceiling, the one place for wretches to climb into was the once set of stairs. Turning around, Marcus and the rest of the group faced the staircase, their weapons raised and ready.

The wretches neither saw nor cared that the group had their weapons turned and aimed to them. And so the soldiers fought back. Wretches, hobbling constantly to them were slaughtered at first, creating a small line of bodies that those behind immediately leapt over, not caring of their fallen comrades.

Marcus counted five dead on his shotgun so far, but they were getting closer. Even as the entire group walked back, and that the chief was literally getting constant head shots with each burst-round in his rifle, it wasn't near enough. There was so many present. And even as they climbed down from the stairs, many more climbed form the ceiling, and only a moment before they started leaping down did he roll back, just avoiding two that aimed right for him.

The Sergeant got back to his feet, observing that most of the group had turned, and continued running to that one room. But glancing quickly around, he spied he was surrounded. Bearing his teeth, he raised his shotgun, and pulled off shots into the crowd around him, not caring what he hit.

"Come on! COME ON!!" Again, several wretches took pauses in the shotgun bursts to attempt to slam them into him. He avoided two, and was slammed full in the chest by the third, but not before he blasted it into pieces with his shotgun. But he was on the ground, and rolling to his left, avoiding claws that swooped down, trying the peel his skin off. Two more shotgun shells empty and five more dead, he got back up, and felt a horror creep over him. He was empty.

The wretches all surrounded him, their small, writhing, hobbling figures watching him closely and excitedly, sure that they would be able to kill him in a moment. His shotgun fell loose to his side again, and he thought. He thought of the war, and death. And the thought of what he promised him. What he promised his father angered him; angered him enough, pissed him off enough to get back up, hold the empty shotgun up like club, and shout back at the encircled group.

"You want me, hu? You're going to have to do more than get my gun empty if you want this soldier!" One wretch screamed and leapt right for him, and he retaliated with a perfect chest-height kick. It crushed the small beasts head, and it toppled backward, and slid back to the rest of the wretches.

In the momentary pause, a slight rain of bullets started catching wretches off guard. Marcus flipped around, and saw Dom, literally jumping on wretch to wretch as he ran after his friend.

"Keep fighting man!" Dom yelled as he grabbed one wretch, screamed a bloody war cry, and swung it over his head and on the ground like a club, smashing it into three other wretches. The chief, who was far back, provided cover with the battle rifle, its well attuned scope picking up targets easily. Shotgun in hand, Marcus swung at two Wretches in Dom's direction, and started his own running, as many of the small locust began launching themselves at him. Finally he reached Dom, and they both turned to the others, and ran with all the strength they had to the others, who had began hiding inside the room, their guns sticking out like a barricade.

"Get something to block them all out!" Marcus cried out as they began to outrun the mass of locust behind them. He and Dom just passed the group in the doorway in time to turn around, watching the masses of wretches all scramble closer to them, as both squads fired from within. The chief had walked over, and began to shove an incredibly thick rack over the side of the door, beginning to block the way in. The others got out of the way, and the object slid to a stop. Before stopping, the chief pulled out one of the small swords he had taken with him from the machine, activated it, and welded it to the wall. He backed up, listening as several bangs and thuds shook the object, but came no where near pushing it over.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Richard asked, walking away from the barricade in exhaustion. Baird, who had been walking slowly away, stopped, but no words came from him.

"That's going to hold?" Mark worried, as the screams still reverberated through the empty wrack.

"Yeah, seems like it," Howard stepped up and smashed the side gently. "Strong enough for a boomer attack!"

"Marcus," Dom started, shoving his friend in the shoulder," you're a freaking retard. But that was plain awesome!"

"Tell me that once we get out of here," Marcus sighed. The tension that had filled him long gone, he felt much better as a light smile grew on his face. He turned and face the others, who all stared at the one entrance into the room. And as he glanced around, the one way out.

"What- there isn't any Emergence tunnel?!" Mark gasped, searching for any signs of a way out.

The room was empty, and there was no other exit.

"We're… stuck here?" Marcus breathed.

"Hold on," Mark said, turning to Marcus quickly. He too looked frantic. "Hold on- we can't start saying stuff like that."

"Yeah? So you're saying we have a way out?" Dom asked hopefully.

"Well-"

"Maybe they'll leave after a few hours. I mean," Richard reasoned," they won't stay out there forever, right?"

"You ever hear of Locust leaving from a fight they can win?" Howard said sadly. "What will most likely happen is they'll wait. If we try to leave, they'll swarm us 'till we're done. If we wait-"

"You'll starve," Cortana summarized.

"Hey Cortana, you don't have any-" Mark started, his eyes wide as he recalled her brilliance and ability to detect things.

"I… wish I could say I have something or some way out. But… I don't."

"Whoa," Cole started slowly after a brief pause," we aint done." He turned, looking at the others. "We can still fight! Why're we thinking like its over!"

"Cole…" Richard started slowly.

"So what there's a lot of them!"

"We're done." Carey slid against a wall, and came to a stop. "Now we decide… how it ends."

"What? That's bullshit!" Cole took several steps to the leaning man.

"What about you all?" Carey Starfeild smiled, actually smiled. The grin however was something that made even Cole sink back slightly; a twisted, evil smile. "Want to die by starvation or wretches tearing us apart?"

"Carey…"

"Either way… it's going to feel terrible. Absolutely torture until we all-"

"CAREY!" the private snapped out of whatever trance he had fallen into. Mark's general lack of authority and order disappeared, and a glare that would make a heartless soldier cower was being shot to Carey from his own Sergeant. "Enough-of-your-fucking-bullshit." Carey blinked several times, and turned away.

"We found the exit," Marcus started, devoid of emotion in his voice," and then they come," he suddenly took a sharp inhale of breath, his anger flaring up," so close." He Closed his eyes in a furious attempt to calm down. "Just as we got… so close? We were feet from the exit… and now we're stuck, with no way out and thousands of locust outside the only way in," the single barricade shook with a bang, and Cole and Richard started to shove another wrack behind the first," because…" Marcus turned very slowly, soon facing Baird. "You." Dom immediately spun around, his eyes wide. Marcus wasn't looking at him, but the tone of voice he used was a clear sign of bad things to come.

Then Marcus charged at Baird.

"Marcus!"

Baird turned to the sound of running and the name shouted as Marcus dived right into him. Baird grunted and collapsed with Marcus, as both fell to the floor. Immediately, Cole, Dom, Mark and Howard ran to the now brawling pair, as Richard watched, his eyes wide, and Carey stared coldly at the fight.

"You said there weren't any Locust here you son of a bitch!" Marcus shouted as he landed a punch on Baird who was busy trying not to get as badly hurt as he could.

"I- it was an assumption! I was wrong, ok?!" Baird shouted desperately as he held his hands up, trying not to entice the raging man to get up and start all over again. "I'm sorry, I-"

"We're stuck here," Marcus shouted, even as Cole, Dom, and Howard all pulled him off and away from him," because you looked at this damn place and said 'it looks abandoned' and now we're fucking dead because of you and your dumshit idea!" Mark ran to Baird, and picked him up and a few steps away from the still struggling Marcus. And just as he did, the Sergeant broke free of his captors and ran straight at the two.

While Mark had the powerful metallic arm, he took the roadie run full impact and was tossed aside as Marcus again began beating up his private.

"Feet- feet from the damn way out, and you turned it on and they all came, ALL CAME-"

Finally, after the others started for him, the chief walked quickly up, picked both in the air and shook them wildly.

"You want to take your fight outside?" growled the Spartan, as he turned and nodded his head at the doorway, still sealed away by the empty metallic racks. After a moment, he dropped Baird, who stumbled forward and nearly ran into the rack. The Chief looked straight at the now shaken Sergeant. "Calm yet?" Marcus nodded, and was let down.

The sergeant glared at the private, and stomped off. "We trusted you! I trusted your damn judgment!" He stopped, breathing as heavily as the others were. "Guess your still bat-shit crazy as I thought you were!" The others all watched in uncertainty as the enraged sergeant kicked over a box, and sat down, his head tilted down.

The chief, now able to glance around the room, realized that they had indeed, locked themselves inside a one way room. Walls on either side looking as if they should have sported something the size of similar wracks, a large table in the center of the room, crates in one corner all holding something; there was nothing to promising for any of them. The same size collectively as the three rooms and hallway two levels up, it was large enough for all of them to sit down against something. The chief watched Baird, who hadn't moved at all.

The Chief hadn't exactly been on a good terms with the now silent man with spiky blond hair. Private Damon Baird seemed only on absolute friendly terms with Cole. As for the rest of the squad, he felt always at opposite terms with them. Even the chief had felt his strange hostility that the private never had a short supply of anger.

"Hey," The Chief started, unsure of how the private had reacted to the fury of his leading officer. Baird's face was blank, near shock.

"I… hate being wrong."

"Yeah, join the club," Master Chief turned, watching the others as he had the first one on one conversation with Baird. "You can't be right all the time."

"Yeah. That sucks. 'Cus when I'm wrong… I'm really wrong. I…" his eyes focused suddenly," I once wanted to know everything, so I could never be wrong. So I joined the gears. And… for a while, I was never wrong. And I loved what I did. Then I made a choice… and I guess it was the wrong choice for me."

"Why's that?" The chief continued.

"Because I'm here," Baird glanced around. "If I had done… well I guess I would be where I want to be."

"And where is that?"

Baird remained silent.

Dom walked over to the still sitting Sergeant, and kicked over a box of his own. Sitting down to the silent friend, he nodded in silent contemplation.

Howard had begun walking around the room, scanning every side, every inch, each wrack of the room, the tables placed in the center, the crates on the side possibly hiding a secret exit.

"Yo Howard," Richard said depressingly as he slid down a wall," just let it go." Most of the room's residents, aside four, turned to him. "We're dead."

"Are we?" Howard remarked. He stopped his searching, turned to face him, and took on long gasp of air in, and sighed. "I feel very alive."

"Put 'er here!" Cole lifted a first up in agreement, and Howard nodded back.

"You really think we're not fucked?" Richard gloomily said, actually dropping his gun to the floor. "Look at us, look at what we're up against- eight gear soldiers and one super soldier against thousands just outside that cruddly little barricade we got going," he stood up and kicked back at the wall," all worth of SHIT!"

"Richard-" Mark began.

"So what if we die?" Richard turned, amazed at the voice he heard. Carey was looking at the ceiling, sitting at the very edge of the floor, his legs having allowed him to slide down the wall in comfort. "If life is being full, and death is being empty, which is really the worse?"

"What?"

"Would you rather be alive for pain," Carey said slowly, turning to face him, his eyes cold as ever," or dead for nothing?"

Cole was the only one ready for that response. "Fuck yes!" Carey actually looked surprised as he turned and stared at the black man, nodding in absolute confidence of his answer. "I live for pain man! Live to fight for what you can! I mean, you can play the game all you want, and when it don't matter, you don't gotta play. But if there's an audience, you have to give 'em what they came for, you know?"

"So, you would rather fight knowing that what you do makes a difference," Carey summarized," rather than dying for you own sake."

"Man, fuck dying! If your gunna die, do it as best you can!"

Both Marcus and Dom had been listening, and both laughed as Mark and Cole did a semi-ritual of a war dance. "You know," Dom started," Baird is an asshole." Marcus snorted lightly. "You know I know that. But he's gotten us out of a lot more trouble then he's gotten us in. And we aren't dead, right?"

"Guess so."

"Maybe you were just a little… you know," Dom stalled, considering right choice of wording," freaking-over-the-top-harsh?"

"Maybe."

"C'mon, I know you man."

Marcus thought for a moment. "I got fed up with his 'I'm the smartest guy here' bullshit. And even when he knew it could be wrong to go in here, he said it was a good idea. He fucked up big time, and so far-"

"Look man." Baird was up, and directly behind him. Marcus stood up quickly, and Dom followed, watching both carefully. "I did fuck up. Big fucking time. I screwed up. So…" he took a step forward, getting closer to the sergeant, who remained motionless, staring back at Baird. "I'm sorry."

Marcus stared at the man in front of him. He didn't smile, but he nodded. "We're pretty much fucked unless you got a plan on getting us out of here, so I'll have to beat the shit out of you later."

"Looky here boys," Richard said airily, pointing to a switch, similar to the one on the machine two floors up. "Wanna press the button?" He flipped the switch, and the walls and wracks suddenly came to life, turning around, and displaying rows and rows of powerful weaponry, all locust standard.

The two areas where a wrack had been pulled away from suddenly had gun port sized holes lined in them, and dozens of Hammerburst Rifles, smaller than the Lancers and without a chainsaw, fell out and onto the floor. Those with wracks nearby had the guns slide perfectly and neatly in place. On the opposite wall, Grenades piled up next to each other. Along with metallic Torque Bows, their explosive arrows already installed in a new cartridge holding pack, Boltok Revolvers, massive and incredibly powerful revolvers, and the legendary Boomshot Grenade Launchers slid out onto respective slides and wrack shelves.

They hadn't walked into an empty room. They had walked into a sealed off Locust Armory.

"Oohh… SHIT," Baird placed effective emphasis on the word 'shit'. "I think just fell in love with you Richard."

"That was me!" Richard teased, lifting up Hammerburst after Hammerburst to check ammunition. "All me man!"

"We can get out now…" Mark nodded to himself, letting his hands gently pull up and away a torque bow with glistening eyes," and holiday just came early." He turned to Carey, holding up the Torque Bow. "I got your favorite locust toy… wadda ya say?"

"Give."

Mark frowned and tossed it to him. "Get it loaded, we're going to need it all to get out of here." Mark passed Marcus and Dom, one still sitting and the other standing. "Marcus, lets get everything we can-"

"Why?"

The general excitement and scurrying that had started at the arrival of new weapons came to a sudden halt. Cole's new toy, a Boltok Revolver, slowly spun its cartridge until it stopped with a firm click. Mark just stared in confusion.

"What d'you mean 'why'? We got guns, ammo, and enough to start a war down here! Not that there's any need-"

"You really thing this is enough?"

Again, the hopes and fires in the soldiers eyes seemed to dim. Marcus stood up, glaring around. "What got into your heads at the sight of guns, hu?" Walking over to a pair of Hammerburst, he grabbed two, and tossed them to the table. Then a revolver, a Torque Bow, and finally a Boomshot. He lifted up one of the Hammerburst, and held it above his head. "Who wants to take and stab at how many shots it takes to kill a single wretch with one of these burst rounds?" The men stood, some glancing around.

"One. Maybe two rounds to take one out," Carey said without hesitation.

"Great. So, if each of us carries two," he held two up, one in each arm," we could kill one to two in a single shot. There are nine of us, that makes…nine to eighteen kills per Hammerburst shot. And, how many are out there?"

"Fine," Mark walked over, and lifted the Torque bow up and into his arms," we'll use explosives. They take out much more in a single round."

"Fine. Boomshots; lets say we all used Boomshots. Carey," Marcus again turned to the darkly figure," how many Wretches can a single shot from a Boomshot kill?"

"Normally, four. But in a situation like this, nine to twelve."

"Nine to Twelve… so, again, nine people, using explosives that kill nine to twelve becomes-"

"Marcus," Mark shouted, getting annoyed with this lecture," what's your point? We've got the weapons, the training, and some numbers; let's give it a shot."

"I'm saying that it's a stupid ass plan to just rush out there because of a little firepower!" Marcus slapped both guns on the table, letting them slide across, until the Chief placed one hand down and the both slid against his armor to a stop.

"He's right." The entire group deflated even more; the chief confirming a negative could never be a good thing; even Marcus felt put down by the powerful Spartan just agreeing with him.

"You have an idea. Right?"

The Chief, for once was only half happy for having a visor concealing his face. He was smiling. Lifting his hand from the table, he walked over to the crates against the wall, and ripped the closest' top off. Reaching down into the crate, which was roughly half the Spartans height, he grasped what he was looking for, and pulled it out.

The others stared as he held it up, and laid it on the table lightly.

"There's one more."

Outside the barricade, the wretches had begun to calm down. Almost two and a half thousand beasts hobbled around, many surrounding the one door that they all knew humans had blocked. Many just sat, staring and waiting for the smell of meat to die away or for the humans to come out. Many of them continued to scurry around, and many fought one anohter, their attention spans weak and their need to claw something incredible. They would get one of their wishes soon.

The Gears were going to come out.

"Alright," Baird said, placing another Grenade pair on his waist belt," before we see if we are fucking idiots or real fucking idiots, lets go over what we're doing, right?"

Baird had lines of grenades strapped over his armor, literally dozens of pairs circling him on all sides. The only weapon he carried was his same snub pistol that he had had from before

"The Chief," he directed to the chief, who was carrying two troika turrets, one in each hand, his usual battle rifle on his back, two Boltok revolvers magnetically attached to his waist, the Imulsion blade, and a pair of grenades," will be the first one out. With the two turrets, he'll give us a path to go with. Each one only has about two thousand rounds in 'em, so he'll have to shoot in bursts."

"Meanwhile," Baird now turned to Cole, Howard, Mark, and Dom; all with Boomshots in their arms while having two Hammerburst on their backs and a Boltok pistol and a grenade pair," you four will provide cover for the chief. Once we start, the Wretches will back off probably in sheer shock; but they'll start swarming again. When they do, each of you use a Boomshot. Just remember you only have four shots, so use them all at once and only when you need to! If you run out of ammo, use the Hammerbursts!"

"You three," Marcus, Carey, and Richard turned to Cole," are our honorary keep-the-locust-away-ers. All you have to do is make sure the wretches don't get too close to use so that the explosives kill all of us." Marcus and Richard had two Hammerbursts, and like the Chief, carried one in each hand. Their backup was their usual weapons- the Gnasher shotgun. Carey on the other hand had a Torque Bow out and a single Hammerburst on his back. "You think you can make sure we don't die?"

"Sure, as long as I don't kill you before we get there," Marcus replied.

"What about you?" Richard inquired, seeing all the grenades on his belt.

"When we kick those things out," Baird pointed to the empty barricades," these grenades get tossed out; all of them are attached to another, being in rows of three each- so basically six grenades a toss. And then this," he picked up a larger bag, and slapped it over his shoulder," is for when we get to the third floor… if we even get to the-"

"One problem," the chief pointed out, lifting up the weapons," all this crap weighs like hell."

"Are we really going to be able to get across the entire floor before we fall just from the weight?" Richard teased. Baird opened his mouth, to retort.

"Enough," Marcus interrupted, still smiling," let's just waste these shits and get out of here before our own guns kill us."

"Hell Yeah! Let's kick this party back up!" Dom agreed, loading the Boomshot in his arms.

"Ok, Chief," Baird pointed to the barricade," do it."

Placing both Troikas down, the chief pulled up the Imulsion blade, activated it, and walked to one side of the barricade. Slashing down, the yellow hissing energy sword slashed clean one side of the wrack that had been sealed shut to the walls. As he walked around, he kicked away the second wrack, which toppled off. Once on the opposite side, he slashed upward effectively releasing the wrack from the wall. The wretches clearly could tell something was up; their reaction to the noise of hissing of the blade caused several cries of excitement.

Finally, getting behind the wrack, he slashed down once again, cleaving the entire thing into two. Deactivating the energy blade, he placed it back on his 'belt', stood fully up, and then kicked the wracks out in one huge jump-kick. The effect was simple: the barricade was shot forward, into the huge crowd of awaiting wretches. However the sheer force of the kick had the barricades actually smashing paths of destruction as they continued to soar through the gigantic crowd of small creatures.

"Great-" Baird quickly ran up, pulling off two chains of grenades, pulling a single trigger on both, and then tossed them. Each one landed close to twenty feet from the entrance; and before the wretches could even begin to flood in, the resulting explosions tore huge gaps in the crowd. Twice more, the same effect ripped apart the closer wretches into shreds and bits as a total of thirty six grenades were thrown out and blow to pieces. "Now Chief! Go!"

Master Chief lifted the two troikas up, aimed out of the doorway, and started walking out. The others followed, all ready to engage the massive crowd, which had distanced themselves away, just as Baird had predicted. Once they had cleared the gateway, they got into formation: the chief in front, the two troikas aiming straight ahead, Mark, Cole, Dom and Howard at his side diagonally, while the last four all watched the back and kept a close eye on the front.

"Here they come!" Baird new before they even acted- the wretches started their charge. "Chief, start using them!"

"This is heavy stuff."

The chief pulled down on both triggers, and the dual turrets began to rip apart the front ranks of Wretches in front of them. Each one, each small locust was instantly dissolved at the sheer stream of bullets. They learned though- as many continued to attack the front, many began to go around, wanting to attack from the sides.

"Let's go, shoot 'em dead!" Dom fired first with the Boomshot, and the three others followed action as four Boomshot explosions echoed around, tearing apart even more wretches, forcing them to back off even further. Carey added some destruction, his aim proving deadly as he shot perfectly into the crowd, killing many with one well aimed Torque Bow bolt.

Marcus and Richard had been busy as well, however not enough for them to notice that many wretches were beginning to circle the entire fight, going for the far back as the group advanced into the crowd.

"Hey," Marcus slapped Richard on the arm, pointing to the back," we got work to do!"

"Ah shit," Richard pulled out both weapons, and began to fire them off, one after another. Marcus too added support, and when Carey noticed, he added his own wave of destruction.

The Chief had now started to drift from aiming to the front; there were so many of them, and the front seemed to do little than stay stationary. As for the four Boomshot carriers, they had exhausted all but one shot.

"Baird!" Cole shouted," what do we do?"

"What?" he turned, ceasing his firing as he noticed their situation. "Oh great. Our guns weight us down much more than I thought they would!"

Slowly, Marcus stopped firing, noticing the others halt of activity. Richard too stopped, watching as a clear circle of wretches formed, all watching, writhing and staring at them. The chief as well let go of the triggers, aware of the situation.

"Hey chief," Baird whispered, staring at the crowd," you got a good idea, right?"

"Man, we better not be over yet! This was getting fun," Cole smiled at the wretches nodding aggressively as he taunted them.

"Private Baird," Cortana started," we have something."

"We do?" asked the chief.

"Yes, we do." She confirmed sternly. "Everyone with and explosive will fire ahead of the chief. One you have, the chief will fire for two seconds, giving you time to start running-"

"What?" Mark asked, unsure of this plan already.

"From there, drop any unnecessary weight and run. The chief will be able to keep up with you all as long as you stay ahead and continue to keep the 'path' clear ahead of him. Got it?"

"Crystal," Marcus whispered. The air got tense as the men prepared. "Go now."

Dom, Mark, and Cole downright screamed as they fired their last Boomshots with Howard, and the Chief began to one last concentrated line of troika. Then, the others ran. Passing him, they all dropped their heavy material, aside from Baird who kept the sack on his back, and ran for the momentary clear path to the stairs, which had been empty. The chief leapt backwards, landing just behind Baird. They had exited the massive crowd of Wretches and were now running for the exit, climbing the spiral staircase just as fast as they had descended it. The chief, still walking backwards, let loose hell on the wretches who had begun to follow them back up, all now being focused into the relatively small staircase. The Spartan used both turrets at once, forcing sections of the stream of locust back, and then focusing on another section. He however was being forced back, as he took step by step backwards to reach the top.

Even as the chief just made it to the center floor, the others had reached the third and final. All but Baird had begun a pell-mell run for the exit, where no wretches remained, all but for several blood stained torn bodies form earlier in the fight. Marcus noticed Baird ran for the closest pillar, and stopped.

"Baird!" he ran after the spiky headed soldier, inciting the attention of Mark and Dom, who both stopped, glanced at each other, and ran after Marcus.

"Hold on! I have to set these!" he pulled out a pair of grenades from the sack with a small mechanism the size of a small clock attatched. Using the handle as rope, he tied the pair around the pillar.

"You're setting up bombs…" Marcus realized, staring at the size of the sack," what the hell are you trying to do?!"

"Blow up this damn place!" Baird said, suddenly getting up and running to the closest pillar from the last. "I don't plan on leaving this one standing after we leave, you know?"

"We don't exactly have the kind of time-" Mark started. Then he heard the gunfire from the stairs get louder, and he turned and ran for the chief.

"You want to help this go faster?" Baird briefly turned, and handed both Marcus and Dom three grenade pairs, all having the small clocks attacked," then get these set up on pillars leading to the emergence hole! If we can cause enough damage," Baird started back on the one he had at hand," we can make this thing really collapse, and every fucking one of the locust inside will die with it!"

Dom and Marcus only needed one look at another to realize Baird was on to something, and then they both took off; Dom heading for pillars closer to the stairs, while Marcus headed closer to the exit.

The Chief had landed on the last step, and stopped, no using both troikas to do as much stalling as possible. He realized from the start that Baird intended on blowing this place up, not to mention a helpful tip on Cortana's part, but now the horde was almost here. What was more, they were beginning to climb around the sides and onto the floor. Mark's extra gunfire was helpful in killing the occasional that got too close or the few that tried to climb to the side, but the line of Wretches was closing distance.

One wretch leapt suddenly from the crowd, and managed to crush a troika before the chief punted it into the air, and blew it apart with the others fire. But now he and Mark were retreating. The Wretches were now running straight for them both. Mark, seeing more flying at him, turned and ran, just past Dom, who had only one grenade pair left, and pointed behind him.

"We gotta go now!"

"Right!" Dom tossed the grenades at a trio of Wretches coming for him, and ran for Baird and Marcus. The chief continued firing as much of the gun as he could. Then it went silent. The turret was empty. So, like before, he tossed the heavy weapon at the locust, and ran, his amazing speed having him pass the still running Dom and Mark.

"Let's go! Now!" Dom said, pushing both, who had both completed their attachments of explosives.

"Did you get them all-" Baird wheezed as they reached the hallway leading to the emergence hole.

"All but one- the closest to the staircase!" They continued on, reaching the hole and leaping up, beginning to climb.

"SHIT! Great, we don't have time then we really need to speed up!" Baird yelled, hearing the wretches get closer to the hole.

"Why?"

"If you had set them up properly, the emergence hole we're in would collapse LAST! Now' we've got about a thirty second time span to get about fifty feet!"

With that, they all climbed faster.

Blinding light signaling the end of the climb, Richard finally lifted his hand out of the hole, and pushed himself out. Not caring for the surroundings at the moment, he turned; his hand out for Carey, who just finished his climb as well. Next came Howard, followed by Cole, who immediately turned to look for Baird. The Chief was just ahead of Mark, followed by Baird, Marcus and Dom.

"C'mon Baird! Get up here!" Cole shouted frantically, waving his hand, stretching it out in desperation as the chief got closer.

Far below them all, the timer ran out.

As wretches just began to climb the emergence hole, ten explosions all went off simultaneously, destroying nine support columns instantly. The columns crashed down, and the ceiling above them began to buckle. Soon the stairs themselves cracked and fell on itself, the wretches now running blindly to try and avoid their immanent deaths. Those inside the tunnel began to feel the hole itself become weak, and panic, many falling back and to their deaths.

From the inside of the cavern, the entire fortress began to fall apart, and then gave away.

The chief made it just as the hole started collapsing. The very bottom gave away as rocks and dirt began to fall back inside. Baird was feet from the end, Marcus just behind him. Dom was lagging, struggling to find the next step.

"Hurry up!" Mark screamed as he helped Cole pull out Baird. "Marcus! Dom! GET UP HERE!!"

The tunnel behind them was beginning to fall apart, Marcus grabbed the edge of the end, just as Dom found the step before the last. Then the support under his feet fell away, and he lost his grip.

"NO!"

Dom began to fall back into the tunnel, and Marcus pushed himself out and down, just in time to grab Dom's left ankle.

"You…are not… going to die on me! Not now! Not when we just got this finished!" However, his grip was sliding off as well, his hands becoming weak from the huge amount of weight. Dom saw him strain.

"Marcus-"

"Shut up!" behind Dom, was a huge drop, perhaps hundreds of feet down.

"If I die, look for-"

"I said shut up!" with that, he lost his grip, and slid away.

"Crap!" Baird launched himself down, and grabbed Marcus's grasping hand with both of his own, and held him up, now holding three times his own weight. "Would you two stop screwing around and get up here! I want to get this shit over with!"

With the help of the chief and everyone else, Baird lifted the two out of the hole. All three of them heaving, and on the ground, Mark took the initiative. Lifting a hand to his right ear, he signaled radio frequency.

"This is Alpha Squad Leader Mark Agron requesting communications with Cog HQ, pronto."

"Hey," Marcus sighed, staring at Baird," thanks. You made this all happen, but-"

"What you mean is just thanks, right?" Baird asked, frowning at the sergeant.

"Yeah," Dom nodded," that's what he means."

"Alpha squad! Uhh…" Anya sounded hesitant suddenly," good to… hear from you again. Are you still with Delta?"

"C-confirmed… Anya," Marcus added, still breathing heavily. "Listen, we need to get back to HQ ASAP. Can you get us any King Ravens for transport?"

"Hold on Marcus," Anya started and suddenly fell silent," from where you are, there's no way I could. You're about twenty miles off from where you started- that's out of our flight zones now!"

"So, we have to walk back home, hu?" Mark said bitterly.

"From what I see, yes," Anya replied disappointedly. "See if you can get to sector A-12. That's close enough for evac."

"A-12?? There isn't any place closer?" Marcus implored desperately.

"That… is the closest sector to you I think."

"Great…" Marcus sighed, glancing around. "Wilco. Delta and Alpha out."

"What's A-12?" Cortana inquired quickly.

"It means we've got a ways to go… but first off, where the hell are we?"

* * *

End of part 4.

To be continued in part 5.

* * *

I'm not going to apologize more than once. I'm sorry. There? Happy? I'm not going through the whole damn 'million sorry parade' I usually do, cus LOOK WHAT YOU JUST GOT! THE LONGEST, COOLEST, MOST ACTION PACKED CHAPTER OF ANYTHING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN!!

And if that isn't good enough for you, you had better hold on. This is called a skirmish, and not a war zone for a reason- its puny compared to what I have in store for the future.

SO! Yes I am back. And I have a lot to tell you. So to speed things up, let me just say it all like I had thirty cups of coffee.

Soiwenttocaliforiaandthengotdisentaryrightcoolthenalofasuddeniwaslikeineedanewcomputeranddecidedtospend2600dollarsononesystemthatdoesntevenhavefuckingwindowsofficeonitsoistillhavetouseacruddylittlelaptopthatimusingnowtowritestuffbutohhmancanitdogamesitmakeshalflife2looklikecommanderkeensoivebeenatdisneyanditkickedassandiwrotethisallduringmyweekheresoihopeyoulikeitcusido!

…SIGH that looks like some Japanese sentence

That took a lot of resisting to press the 'spacebar' to write that. Man.

And no, this chapter is not over.

You see, around 8700 or so words into the chapter, I initially decided to stop there and contine with a second chapter just called 'part 2'. But… well I decided, during my stay in Florida, to hire a committee to watch an animated version of my chapters. And… well just see what happened.

* * *

Behind a door labeled 'Red Coat Committee of Film Watching', a large movie theater type room stood, dark and without much light, aside from that coming from a projected screen on the wall. Sitting in the chairs in the audience were none other than Vash the Stampede from Trigun, Alucard from Hellsing, Inuyasha from… Inuyasha, Ed from Fullmetal Alchemist, Vincent from Final Fantasy VII, Dante and Nero from The Devil May Cry series, and EZB… the author in case you didn't know.

Each watched, sitting as they character should, as the screen displayed the film based on the chapter itself. On the screen, Master Chief laid the large Troika turret on the table, and the screen switched to Marcus's reaction of shock and hope, the others geras behind him smiling in the background, just as the view switched back to the chief.

"There's one more."

"Oh man we need to get this man a red coat," Dante spouted out, nodding around at his assurance, being one of the coolest by far in the group.

"I heard he occasionally wears a red alternative to his armor," Alucard grinned, his deep, evil voice distracting several from the show, and was shushed.

The screen froze and reddish tint covered the screen, with big black words on one corner reading 'To Be Contined."

"WHAT THE HELL!!" Inuyasha leapt up, drawing his Tessaiga from its sheath, and suddenly starts slashing at the screen.

"Whoa, whoa-" EZB gets up, trying to stop Inuyasha from destroying any more. But the half-demon just turns, and raises his sword.

"Wind Scar!"

A huge blast of energy and wind tears apart the young author. He walks back in the room only a second later.

"Ow."

"You call that an ending!?" Inuyasha screamed, pointing at the screen, which still showed the 'to be continued' on it.

"Uh… yeah?"

"You have some bad taste ezb." Nero piped up, shaking his head at the screen.

"No, no, no. It's pronounced, EZB."

Nero turned completely confused. "What? That's what I said."

"No, you said ezb. It's EZB"

"…" Nero turns and shrugs to an equally entertained Dante.

"I'm leaving." Ed said, getting up and leaving for the door. "I have more important things to do."

"Oh- ok! Thanks for coming!" EZB waves, and then turns to the others. "So? What did you think?"

"You must continue it," Alucard noted, nodding at his own facts," a crowd never likes an ending like this one- so many things to be seen yet you cut it all away."

"Yeah, I mean it was really cool until that… part," Vash said, rubbing the back of his head, trying to sound not like a jackass. "I think you should continue, you know- in case they want more!"

"Continue?"

"People hated it when they stopped playing my game mid way," Dante started," they always wanted a good, clean, well not so clean I guess, finish."

"Don't you mean 'our game'?" Nero turned to face him.

"You don't get a say in this- you have the same voice actor as the guy who plays Ichigo from Bleach!"

"But," EZB started, loosing track of the conversation," it will be too long if I continue it-"

"Then add a warning that says something like 'this thing is really frikken long! Don't read it if you're a pussy!'" Inuyasha suddenly shouted, and then marched out of the door.

"Hey Vincent, what do you say?" EZB inquired.

"…" Vincent nodded/shrugged.

"Ok then! One Big-ass-chapter coming up!"

* * *

And that is the HOLY CRAP THAT IS A CRACK ANIME SHITTHING version of what happened to decide the length of my story. And if you hate anime, sorry. So sorry. I love it. You love my work, right? RIIIGHT?

Well, as usual, vote on my stuff I have on my page, cus I want results! MORE OF THEM!

So, I hope I answered some questions (if not made some more… ppl are now wondering if I'm high or something) but anyway, hope you severely enjoyed this chapter because I suffered to make it awesome. Cus, hey, this is double the word count and double the length of my longest chapter before this. SO I HOPE I MADE UP MY TIME BEING GONE. **And before I go, if any of you should feel compelled to write a review, you MUST do as follows-**

**Write what you thought before reading, and then what you thought after reading. Be honest!**

Enjoy being completely entertained, and confused,

EZB

PS there will be a serious question next update- so vote on my current as soon as your done with this so I can post the next. And the next question will determine the fate of this story. Putting pressure on ya! :D


	31. The Bluff

The Men of War – Part 5

"You got me," Mark said simply, staring around.

"This has got to be some… town," Dom tried to find proper explanation himself.

"This has to be an old Fossil Fuel Mining town," Baird stated, glancing around.

Around the newly emerged group of Gears and Spartan was a town. In style that could have been found in late eighteenth century earth, the buildings around them all were made of wood. Behind the now closed emergence hole was the massive cliff, now a sheer drop and overlook that displayed a massive valley of trees and mountains. The emergence hole was directly in the center of what could have been the mains street of the small town. Each home itself was roughly two stories, their roofs at and angle, slanted and without a flat surface. Many looked torn down, especially the ones closest to the group. Windows shattered, doors ripped down, and several bullets lying on the ground nearby, it wasn't hard to guess when this had happened.

"Locust had been here," Howard said, his eyes scanning around, Hammerburst raised in preparation for action, "looks like a while ago too."

"When though…" Mark sighed as he walked closer to one of the closer buildings, door and windows torn down and off, to have been apparently shattered on the ground. Feeling the side of the doorway, he noticed scratches all around. "Can't tell when whatever happened… happened."

"Probably before the Lightmass Bomb," Baird walked forward, starting down the dirt road they stood on," after all, the damaged caused when the shockwaves reached this area caused all of their forces to go into hiding, or to leave. So this place has been like this maybe for days, maybe weeks."

"Great," Marcus stepped up to a broken sigh, displaying a warning for dangerous machinery," you guys wanted a place to rest? Here it is. But spread out first- scan the entire area. We've had our fill of surprises."

"What?" Cole pleaded, sounding disappointed that their 'fun' had possibly ended.

"C'mon Cole, lets look for some food," Baird said before walking through a pair of buildings, a now nodding Cole following.

"We'll stay here, ok?" Mark cried out to Marcus and Dom who had started walking down the road. "Ok? OK?!" Marcus wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a response. "Oh fuckit. Howard, you're with me. Rick, Carey, check out the buildings near the cliff. Lets get this over with so we can relax for five minutes."

Master Chief had been watching them all, entertained at their stamina. Nonetheless, he had to contribute, so he spun around and started walking down a smaller road that lead up a mountain path. On a sheer side of the mountain, a large cave entrance awaited. The Chief was sure that if there was any survivors, they would be there. A cave would offer protection, cooler air, and hopefully avoid locust. However in the chiefs usually pessimistic view on the survival of others, he saw this to be unlikely.

Baird and Cole walked past several other buildings. Each time, they peered briefly into one, checking for anything useful, edible, or interesting. Yet twice they found nothing but broken furniture, and in one case a shattered TV. Passing the third they came to, Cole spotted something.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold up Baird," he slide to his right a tiny bit, trying to get a better view of what was inside the building that caught his attention. "I got something here."

"What?"

Something reflecting the tiniest amount of sunlight glinted just enough that it had caught Cole's eye. Pushing himself inside of a broken window, he landed surprisingly softly, and as he brought another foot inside, it landed on broken glass. The cracking redirected his gaze momentarily and he shook his head. Baird followed, and nearly tripped as he came through.

"Next time let's use the door, ok?"

"Aw man, door isn't as cool as jumping through a window," Cole walked into the room where the glint had caught his eye. Surrounding him were dead wretches. All with huge chunks blown out of their bodies, they had taken heavy fire, and he and Baird both saw stairs with a barricade of broken couches behind it. The smell was bad enough with the wretches, but getting closer to the stairs, it grew in disgustingness. Walking up the stairs, Cole touched the first couch with his finger, and it tilted slowly over and collapsed with a thud. "Easy work." He stepped over an initial body, torn up beyond recognition from wretch claw marks, and stopped. Baird nearly ran into him stepping over the same corpse.

"What? Wh- oh man!" They had walked into what could have been a blood pool. Wretch and human bodies alike were strew around, torn up left and right, their blood intermingling to create a terrible sight on the floor and even worse smell in the air. "You couldn't smell this bad even if you tried!" Baird shouted, turning away, his arm to his face as he descended the stairs.

"Yeah, right." Cole too turned, and headed back down the stairs. Landing on the last step, he spotted Baird, squatting over by a shelf, opening and closing each drawer quickly, probing for anything of use.

"Damn, Damn, Damn."

"What we got here," Cole bent down, spotting a colorful object; a bobble head. "Oh hell no man! No way, Hey Baird, come here!"

The distracted blond grunted.

"Yo, look at this!"

"What?!" Baird turned, and saw Cole holding up a Bobble Head figure of himself. Baird nearly smiled, but then laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, yeah, really cool. Put that down and look for something we actually need!"

"Alright, just checkin the treasure, that's all."

Baird opened the last drawer to find a large map. "yes!" pulling it out, he quickly walked over to a low table, and laid it out, using the nearby light of a broken wall. "Great… we're here!" he pointed a finger down, near the far upper right corner, at the cliff. He dragged his finger, counting under his breath miles, until his index finger reached the words 'Rexington'. Frowning, he then dragged it upwards until they came across the name 'Shervo Center', a former communications complex. Smiling, he began to drag his finger back to where he started, at the rock cliff, and stopped at the words 'Brellies Bluff'. They had stopped at Brellies Bluff, the last fossil fuel mining station before it had been shut down. And they had over thirty miles by foot to get to the center. "Well, at least we aren't going back to that shithole," he said, staring down at Rexington.

"What?" Cole said as Baird rolled up the map. "This is a shithole man. At least it smells like one!"

"Yeah, let's get the others. We've got to get going before it gets dark."

Marcus and Dom continued down the main road, occasionally looking into a building. They didn't know what they were looking for, but it seemed natural to look for something to help rather than nothing at all. Pausing by one that had its entire back wall torn down, Dom shook his head.

"You think anyone still lives here?"

"Doubt it," Marcus said back, spotting bloodstains on the walls. "If anyone survived whatever happened here, most likely they left for someplace better."

"Looks like it, hu?" Dom's eyes focused on a tall chapel ahead of them. Passing several similar broken homes, they reached the small church. Similar to the buildings, scratch marks covered its walls like tiles of wood. Yet the doors of the church remained unopened, and as Marcus tilted to his side slightly, spying the side of the building, he saw none of the windows had been shattered, however many looked cracked and scratched. "Hey, do you think…?"

"Only one way to find out," Marcus and Dom walked up the set of stairs, climbing each white step carefully, unsure if Locust waited on the other side. No bloodstains were on these steps though, no bodies or bullet holes were insight as they reached the large wooden doors with metal reinforcements. He and Dom kicked out, and the door simply budged. "That is a heavy door."

"It isn't bad as the last door we tried to open forcedly," Dom reassured him, recalling the damage the gate had caused when the chief had opened it up. "You think we should wait for the Master Chief?"

"Nah, he's somewhere else, lets just do this ourselves. It did move a little, we just have do kick it at once."

"Alright, lets do this."

"On the count of three. One," the both took a step back," two… three!" the two kicked out and the door budged again, but it had been forced back slightly. They had heard scraping of something on the other side, perhaps furniture. Dom and Marcus exchanged looks. "This could take a while."

Mark and Howard had just walked into what could have once been a small restaurant. Round wooden tables, some overturned and other broken, were scattered around. A bar sat on a far wall, a glass cabinet behind it displaying rows and rows of alcoholic beverages. Mark started right for the bar, while Howard stepped around, catching the occasional wretch footprint of blood. Several pictures, all painted, were hung on the wall, many of scenery that possibly came from the countryside around them, one of a sunrise on the mountains around them, and another of a small creek in the deep woods while being bathed in a ray of sunlight. A crash of glass shook him for a second, as he turned and saw mark smashing through the glass cabinet.

"Sire, what are you," he paused, seeing Mark take out several glasses, and then mutter a no," is this honestly the best time or place to have a drink?"

"When isn't?" Mark turned, smiling quickly as he turned back, taken glass after glass, looking for the right one. "Harvest Season… nah," he placed it down on the bar with the others. "what's this-" the instant he saw the glass, he grimaced, and tossed the bottle behind him absentmindedly. "Shitty stuff," eh pushed several aside as he peered inside. "Here we go," he pulled out a glass with 'Sunshine' in golden letters down. A picture of a beach, sun shining brightly above with several woman all in golden bikinis lay on the beach. "Howard," he nodded, and reached under the bar, pulling out several glasses," come on. This is some good stuff."

"Alright, you bought me. And you pay for the drinks."

"No need," Mark said as he pulled the top off and poured the drinks," I've got vip access!"

Both Mark and Howard chuckled. A loud bang echoed from somewhere in the building, and Mark dropped the glass, and it shattered on the ground as he and Howard lifted their weapons up to their shoulders. Both of them pointed to the door at a corner, with a sign of 'employees only'. Wakling carefully over, Mark kicked the door opened as Howard stepped inside, ready to shoot.

"Oh damn," Mark said as he let his weapon fall loose. He walked away, a hand at his mouth. Howard himself quickly left the room, as several torn apart bodies were all laid about, like food strew across a plate. The stink was even worse. Once he had gotten his balance, Mark lifted a hand to his ear. "Hey Richard."

"What? You guys find something?" responded the Private first class over the radio.

"Yeah, looks like we just found out what happened to the people who lived here. At least some of them."

"Dead?"

"Yeah, and I mean really dead. No amount of sewing could put these guys back together."

"Jesus."

"Yeah, we got something like that too," Baird added over the radio. "Some of them tried to barricade themselves inside. Looks like they didn't exactly make it. I found a map though," Baird suddenly said, apparently undisturbed at the masses of bodies.

"That's great," Mark said sarcastically," we found a bar."

"What?" Cole joined the conversation. "We're join up with you asap!"

"Guys!" Marcus had overheard them. "We're here to get what we need. Bring one or two bottles, then get moving. Cole, when you can, head to a chapel, we need some help opening a door."

"You got it!"

Mark lowered his own hand and turned, and nearly ran into the chief. "Whoa! Chief? Where'd you come from?"

"Weren't you going up that mountain?" Howard asked.

"Caved in, so I headed back."

Marcus and Dom again kicked, and the door opened a little bit more. "How about we just push?"

"Lets just do this," Marcus replied to Dom, and they both placed their backs against either door, and pushed back. The large wooden doors began to creak open, whatever being the door was also being shoved aside, it's clanging and groaning audible from outside. Grunting harder, the two forced the doors wide open, and saw the inside of a church. The closest benches had been shoved over, apparently as a improvised barricade. In the center past all the benches and in front of a decent sized organ was an Alter, still unmoved or apparently touched. Stained windows up above allowed light to shine through, giving the place a feel of sanctuary.

"Nice place, hu?" Dom said in a satisfied way.

"This place hasn't been opened up yet, which probably means that someone is stillhere-"

From one of the far benches near the alter, a single shot from a pistol echoed out, missing the two, but close enough to have them duck and hurriedly rush to nearby cover. Dom was up against a pillar near a wall, while mar had slid to a stop by the nearest bench.

"Hey!" Baird shouted on the Com system," what's going on? We heard some gunfire!"

"You aren't welcome here!" a shaking voice yelled out from its hiding spot. "Go away please!"

"Hold your fire!" Marcus shouted back, not wanting any more attacks in possible. Yet another pistol shot echoed out, this time with completely random aim, hitting the ceiling.

"G-go away! I, I, I'm willing and able to fight if possible!" Marcus stared at Dom who looked back, equally unimpressed. This person was bluffing, they could here it.

"We got bigger guns, and we aren't afraid to use them on any punk who wants a fight! Come out!" Dom looked at the bench where the gunshots had been coming from. Slowly, two shaking hands raised into the air, a snub pistol in one hand. The hands were followed by arms and finally a head; a short haired kid, even younger than the ones who had hung around the group several days ago stood up. Dark brown hair and brown eyes, his eyes were wide with fear, and his mouth was open slightly, his hands actually trembling as he fully stood up, wearing a dirty green sweater with black cargo pants. Several scratches were evident on his face and hands.

Marcus sighed, stood up, and lifted his hand to his ear. "Guys, I think we just found the townsfolk." He let his hand fall to his side as a woman, around twenty five in age, wearing a dirty nun robe walked carefully out, several small children cowering behind her.

* * *

A-yup! That's all for this chapter. Because I have something important to tell you all! Yes, its that important to have a short chapter.

As you may be aware, Gears Of War 2 is coming out relatively soon. Now many of you have asked 'can this story continue into events of Gears of war two?'. Now, you all have to understand that this story was added a year after GoW first came out, and the idea of a sequel to the amazing game never reached me until this spring.

Now here is the big problem I'm here for. I've made a lot of bold choices- like the Chairman for instance. I have no idea what the sunovabitch looks like. But I gave it a rough guess, and I hope its close to what he looks like. And locations, events, like the Imulsion vapor beginning to collect, are all going to happen in gears two. And because I want this story to be soo kick ass and accurate, I don't want to fuck up anything that I can avoid fucking up! I mean, I doubt that the chief will show up in the next game, but hey, you never know! In all honesty, I have about ten or so more chapters until I reach the point where we get into the events just before Gears of war two. Yes, I know Technically Gears of War takes place six months after the first game, but several chapters are nothing more than a large timespan. Possibly.

What I'm asking is for your, the readers, suggestion.

I have several ideas on how to tackle the time I have left until I can play Gears of War Two and know what to build this story up to.

Number one, Continue to Guess and feel my way through, taking the same stabs in the dark at the World of Sera as I continue to write exactly as I have planned until Gears Two comes out.

Number two, Have what could be considered a 'series of filler episodes'. Smaller events that have little to no coincidence of the massive story line I have set up, which would consist all within an even called 'Operation Lifeboat'.

Number three, wait for a while, and slow down the chapter making to allow slowed, but constant arrival of chapters. This would allow me to still write but not reach that point of no return until Gears of War Two comes out.

Num. (screw the whole name) 4, stop for a month or two, recollect and research, and return with as much accurate information as possible. Hopefully some more spoilers will come out that I can use to form good events in the future.

Num. 5,

Num. 6, Profit!

Yeah, sadly I have to at some point delay what I have set out, if it be through filler episode, or simply delay in chapter arrival, and I really don't like that. It's annoying, no?

(door next to computer breaks open as several blue suited men holding crowbars come running in) WHOA!

Gman #1: We found him! We found him!"

Holy crap! The Gman Squad?

Gman #2: What do you think you're doing, harassing a computer?!

Hu?

Gman #1: we caught you typing violently on a keyboard! Look at this! (holds up a video camera, playing a video of EZB typing normally)

I'm not doing anything violent!

Gman #3: you don't see the damage you're doing to the computer's soul!?

What the hell-

Gman #4: Aw shutup faggot!! GET HIM!!

Oh Shit! (runs away from the computer as they begin to chase him, swinging their crowbars wildly, breaking the computer apart as the do) You broke my computer!

Gman #1: He's running away!

(EZB runs into a wall, with no way around as the four gman surround him) No… no!

Gman #2: Meeerrry Chriisstmaaas! (all four run up and beat him to death with he crowbars. They jump around in victory, as one places a trip mine on EZB's corpse, which instantly explodes, killing them all)

* * *

The Gman Squad is a Youtube sketch/improve show using Half life as a tool for characters. It is very funny and random and I recommend you watch it as I have just exploited their amusingness; i have no 'ownership' of any kind of their awesomeness. Now please go vote. Seeya next week!


	32. A Rusty Pickup

"We've been waiting here for days," announced the young woman. She, Marcus, Dom, and Mark all sat with her at a table to the side of the main altar. Behind them, all but Cole sat on the seats provided, each listening or doing what they could to amuse themselves. The Chief stood behind Marcus, staring down at the table as he listened to their conversation, similarly to the young man who had initially attacked them with a pistol. Cole was busy re-telling his amazing plays during his thrashball prime, as his stories of amazing feats had been told by from parent to son and daughter. Grunts and shouts for dramatic effect distracted the group at the table slightly, staring over to the wide eyed children. "It's been days since they've had something think about aside from what happened."

"What did happen?" Dom asked, trying to sound as helpful and understanding as he could. The nun glanced over to the crowd of children again, sadness clouding her eyes with tears.

"Almost a week ago, tremors shook the ground," she started, speaking very quickly, afraid of the past more than she was of the grizzly looking men in front of her," we thought something had happened to the mines to the north, but it had knocked out our communications completely. The edge of the cliff fell as well from the shaking; it all happened so fast-"

"Calm down," the chief said, as static as he had been before, listening intently. "What else happened?"

"That afternoon," she gulped, and the older teen placed a hand at her should," a hole appeared in the center of our town. Some of the men weren't sure if it really was an emergence hole, but they went inside to find out. Father Gallen tried to persuade them… then they came out."

"Wretches," Marcus muttered, just loud enough for the others to glance at him before returning to listen.

"The family service was happening that Sunday, so when the father told me to barricade the door, and don't let anyone inside, no matter what happens, I had to keep them inside…" again she peered over to the crowd of children," they had to sit with me, living of what rations we could find… they had to hear all of it."

"Hear what?" Mark asked.

"The screaming… the gunshots, everything that they should never had have to hear; ever."

She peered at them now, her sad stricken eyes pouring into their souls. Eventually she found an answer to an unasked question.

"They're all dead, aren't they?"

"I'm sorry," Marcus spoke softly. The woman dropped her head into her hands, several strands of black hair falling loose from the headdress she still wore. The others waited for a minute as her near silent crying shook their resolve. Finally she looked back up, rubbing the back of her hand under her eyes.

"I don't know what to tell them," she sniffed, her eyes directed to Cole," I hoped beyond all powers that their families were safe, and that… I just don't know what to say."

"They're still alive, aren't they?" Dom said, her eyes flashing to him.

"What? Who?"

"Them," he nodded his head back to them," they can still live, and they can still remember." Marcus smiled awkwardly, the smile being hopeful and false. Aside from frightening the maiden, he wondered why he smiled in the first place. What Dom said, or at least his meaning, was full of holes. He knew all too well that memories can be a blessing and curse. And he was sure that Dom felt the same way even as he said it, being what he had lost.

"Yes," she sniffed again, trying to clear the congestion," I suppose." Repositioning herself, she stood upright, nodded to the boy who lifted his hand, and then stared back at the soldiers. "When are we leaving?"

Three confused faces met this question, and one still stationary visor reflected the woman's image to her.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked, as if he had missed an important fact of the discussion.

"We are leaving aren't we?" she looked to each of them, a plea and sudden fear gripping at her.

"Well, yes," the chief said, shrugging," we are."

"And we're coming with you," she added.

"What makes you think you'd be any safer outside than in here?" Mark asked incredulously. "What kill-" he lowered his voice as he realized the touchy subject," what happened to those families are dead, but their friends aren't. It's not exactly a safe walk to the local train station or something, it's a day or two continuous walk-"

"But we called for you! We asked for a pick up, and that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who did you call?" Marcus asked, all of a sudden feeling like déjà vu had just snuck up on him. She paused, seemingly just as confused as they were. Yet it was the teen behind her who spoke.

"Two days ago, a message went over the radio, sending a request if anyone outside of section 'Fv-5'. They said that there was a recollection of those left behind going on, and that anyone in need of assistance was welcome to join-"

"Great," Marcus rubbed his forehead, realizing why there was confusion. "Sounds like Rexington is still in business."

"Yeah, that place," the teen nodded, unaware of the headache he was causing the soldier," and we told them that we needed help, so they said they'll send a pickup in two days!"

"In other words," the nun added," Today. I was curious however why they sent Coalition soldiers…" and the truth dawned on her," but you never were sent, were you? You just stumble on us as you passed by."

"More like ran like hell through the locust fortress underneath your town," Mark added defensively. "We aren't out for a picnic."

"And so this one guy," Cole continued, using as much movement as he could to explain," came jumping over this one dawg, and he was all 'you're dead man!'," the children watched with open mouths as he reacted his maneuver around the invisible attacker," but he jumped like he was doing ballet or some crazy stuff!" he ducked and spun around, still stamping like he was on hot coals," he and his buddy missed me man, and that was my first touchdown! Yeah!"

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah, but the train's got more than that baby!" Cole nodded as he continued with his stories. Baird watched, bored out of his mind.

"Cole really did all that?" Richard asked, not having to worry about his volume with Cole's loud verbose.

"Yeah, most of it." Baird snorted slightly, and rubbed his nose. Behind him, Richard did not find a quick way to amuse himself.

"So… you and Cole were did thrashball together?"

"What?" an irritated Baird responded. He turned to glare at Richard. "No! He was a gear when we met! Does it look like I would be a thrashball player?"

"Well, quarter back?" Baird's stare partially broke Richards curiosity. "What? I never paid much attention to the sport. But you met him as a soldier?"

"Yes, I did."

"And…?"

"And WHAT?"

"… Never mind." Richard sat back down on one of the seats, moody as Baird was. He picked at his gun as he watched the two groups converse with themselves; Cole reliving his glory days, and the 'leaders' discussing whatever was being discussed. So he got up, using simple movement to pause the waves of annoyance that made him want to try out a thrashball tackle on Baird. So he passed by the rows of seats, many shoved together by unorganized attempts to barricade the door, some overturned, and many left alone. Swinging his gun back and forth in a loose grip, he walked over to the broken open door, and peered outside.

"You? You fixed it?"

"Well, it wasn't easy, but I got it eventually," the teen modestly answered.

"Listen, we aren't going to stay for long," Marcus wanted it as clear as possible, "and once we're going, we don't stop unless we need to. For your own sake you should stay-"

"And what can you say to me that can reassure them," the woman pointed to the children again," that you will ever come back?"

"We can't say anything official, but we can send for evac-" Mark started, and stopped as soon as the memory of what Anya had said about being far out of range for any kind of air recovery. "It's not like we'll just leave you all behind!"

"And it's not like you will ever need to come back!"

"You said there were strandeds coming from-" Marcus started.

"Don't call them that!" Snapped the young woman, surprising the experienced soldier. "They seem much more inclined to help a group of children then the soldiers of the Coalition do, and yet you look down on them!"

"THEY," Marcus growled," said they'll send a ride, didn't they? It would be safer to be with them. And," he started before the angered woman could respond," considering what Rexington's policy towards us is, you probably don't want to be seen with us."

"What?"

"They decided to block out all Gears," Mark nodded grimly as he said it," that need residence until we, as in the Cogs start to help them in mutual benefit, or some crap like that-"

"And you think that's a bad thing? To say 'if you want to stay, you must help us in return?'" she nearly spat as she seemed more and more disgusted with these men who only fifteen minutes ago had appeared as a miracle.

"They said that all gears, regardless of their intentions, are now considered a threat," finished Mark, as he scratched his head self-consciously. "Our bad actually."

"Oh I can imagine," she spoke in a lowered, dangerous voice.

"We can't be with you," Marcus finished, standing up from the chair. "We'd be endangering your lives by staying, and risking your rescue if we're found by the str-" he quickly intervened as she looked like she would slap him," by the people coming to help you. Sorry we can't help you, but we need to get going." Cole and the others noticed the movement by the main table. Quickly rapping up his story while the others stood up, the group reunited next to the altar. "Ok guys, we've got to move on," Marcus glanced back once more at the scornful nun glaring at them," and we should do it before the pickup crew for these guys arrive before we're history."

Richard, still at the door, was staring at something past the doors. His head actually ducked out like he was playing hide and seek, he was staring at something they couldn't see, at the road. As Mark and Marcus watched, he quickly pulled his head in and darted for the others.

"Guys, we got a big truck heading our way," gasped as he stopped, his eyes wide with shock," two cycles with them, and what could be ten or so people. I also know for a fact that that is no standard issue Cog truck." Marcus groaned and closed his eyes as foreboding set into his mind.

"Looks like we've outstayed our visit. Let's go-" the rest of his words were cut out by a long scraping of pebbles and rocks as the massive truck outside slid to a stop. The chief noticed, even from a glance from past the doors of the church, that it was similar to an earth truck, with large lights on its small roof, a pickup section, and large wheels all included on the eight foot tall truck. Two other vehicles slid to a stop next to the first; similar to a motorcycle, yet elongated and seated so that the rider was at a forward angle of the ride. Their thicker tires made gashing marks on the dusty road they stopped on. "Hide, now," Marcus whispered urgently to the others, as they scattered to hiding spots that could only hope to conceal them.

Marcus, Dom, Mark, and the chief all stood behind the door, their weapons ready if anything would happen. "There's no telling what these guys will do if they find us," Cortana said uncertainly through their coms. "But hiding with your weapons ready isn't going to give them a good impression!"

"Better threaten than beaten," Marcus retorted back as he listened intently past the door. Glancing back to the group at the altar, the children had all grouped around the woman, who now was as concerned as Marcus was, frightened at what could happen now.

"Ok," a voice floated past the half open doors," what's the word?"

"Scavenge what we can. This place could have supplies we need for home," a louder, yet deeper voice responded, as footsteps were heard, each scraping dust and pebbles as they walked around outside of the church.

"We're here," a very familiar and eager voice added sharply," because we received a call for help! That's what we're looking for."

"Oh, right," the second voice angrily shot back," like we can't afford to grab some supplies but we can get some more kiddies to our already starving city, how could I forget?"

"That's enough, yah yellow jackholes," said a fourth voice that Marcus and Dom recognized only," just get some booze from that bar, I'll look for the food, and you do some 'soul searching', hehehe!"

"That sounds like that-" Dom began only to hear a loud door slam.

"Just get it done, you drunk bitch," Marcus's eyes widened as he knew who the voice belonged to.

"Holy shit, it's Eric," he whispered lightly to the others.

"Head down that way," shouted the fourth, strangely familiar voice," I'll look over there and you… do whatever you want to do. Ain't that what your daddy wanted? Ha ha ha," the last figure faded steadily lower in volume, most likely because he was walking off to wherever he was going, snorting in amusement all the way.

"Fucking drunk," Eric growled as his footsteps grew louder and louder, clopping with each step on the steps before the door. His steps halted for a moment, and something pushed against the door, forcing Marcus and the chief to fall back against the stone walls next to the door. To those hiding by the seats, his head popped up, peering into the building. The closest to the door felt him get closer and edged back. "Hey!" he suddenly shouted, as he stepped in and ran for the group by the Altar, completely passing and missing the scrambling group. As he bolted in, the door was forced open and swung back at Marcus, and it collided with his head with a painful whack. The soldier resisted all urges to curse the teenage blond stranded to oblivion, and followed the chief to a pillar. The others quickly ran to better hiding spots, mostly around the pillars, just poking their heads out to spy on the newly arrived man.

"I take it you guys are the ones in need of rescue?" he asked in a hurry, as the sudden sprint had sapped him of breath as he stopped in front of the group.

"Yes, we called for someone to come," the woman responded kindly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He stood up again, staring at the kids with uncertainty. "Are you…" he switched stares to the nun," where is everyone else?"

"This is everyone," responded the shy kid, the oldest there aside from Eric," everyone left."

"Damn- I mean daang," he corrected himself at swift stare from the nun. "I know you are all probably tired and have a crazy story to tell, but it has to wait for the moment. Once the others are ready, we can get out of here. Cool?" The nun smiled happily and nodded. "Alright." The young stranded turned and headed for the door. He was wearing a bulkier armor than he had previously, something that Marcus had worn years before being sent to prison. He had not changed much in appearance, but his eyes shone of a much more focused confidence. Just before he reached the door, he stopped. Staring outside, he seemed to have something on his mind. "Are you sure," he turned to face the group again," you're all that's left?"

The young nun blinked, only to flash a quick glance to the area where the group was still in hiding, watching everything happen before them.

"No, of course not."

"Kay, just checking." Eric walked out in the same brisk pace that he had before stopping. One his footsteps had vanished, the group began to creep out, unsure if he had left or not.

"Listen," Howard immediately walked over to the nun, who wore a face of bitter dissatisfaction," thank you for that."

"Man of few words I see," she said, walking past him, the children following. Passing the others, she only stopped to face Cole. "Thank you for the stories."

"Yeah yeah," he nodded, a sad smile with him as he looked at the kids he would miss the opportunity to convey even more stories to," anytime miss. This train's full of stories, just wave it down and you got him!"

She smiled kindly to him, and continued her walk. "You know, she said out loud," you won't get many allies if you keep pushing yourselves away from one another." She turned quickly, her eyes full of dire warning," we are all in this same situation, and we can't just ignore each other forever. One day we will have to fight this together." And she walked out into the bright light outside. The group stared after her, unsure of what to say or do.

"It seems like a reoccurring theme," Cortana spoke aloud for the chief, who nodded as the squads turned to face him. "It is very interesting that so many people think like this, all except the fighting force."

"She doesn't know enough," Baird growled in his own defense," they hate us as much as we know they're dirty shit."

"Dirty shit, hu?"

All whirled around to face the door. Eric was kneeling against the still closed and barricaded entrance, his arms crossed and an eyebrow cocked from the last comment. He smiled like he had caught his favorite toys after them being lost for weeks, and started to walk over.

"You knew we were here?" Marcus smirked as he pounded fists with the young man.

"Are you kidding me?" Eric rolled his eyes," I know wretch markings when I see them. And wretches don't carry chainsaws with them when trying to break into a church; the markings were all over the door. Beside, I was sure someone else was here, and I decided to hide behind the door, you know, making the sounds like I was getting further away-"

"Yeah, great job," Baird interrupted, nodding to the arrived man," You found us, great job. Now what?"

"Hu?" for the first time, the young stranded looked as he did before, young, naïve, and confused. "Oh… oh yeah, the whole thing with you and," he nodded in recognition of the meaning. "Before you even say, where are you guys going? Because I know for a fact you weren't going to stick out the rest of your time in this church."

"We're heading for sector A-12," Mark answered without hesitation. Eric seemed to take the new information like a kick to the groin, he blinked, his eyes grew wide, and he did a double take.

"You're heading there? To Shervo town?"

"Yuup," Marcus said. "We can't get any kind of evac out of here- this is too far out of chopper range. If we get to the Shervo communications tower, we can get a way out of here." Eric stared at them for a while. Either from doubt of their truthfulness or shock from their target destination, he knew that they wouldn't be convinced otherwise.

"You know I can't let you anywhere near our town," Eric said as a reminder. "Dad'll kill me, or you."

"We know."

"And you know that we lost contact with Shervo about three months ago?"

"No, but it wont stop us."

"Thought not." Eric considered for a moment, and then turned away for the outside. "We'll take you to the former Gas station just on the road we pass that'll take you to Shervo. That's as far as I can get you."

The nine of them glanced around. Their luck had improved with the arrival of an unlikely ally. Now all they had to do was survive a ride with several dirty shit strandeds

* * *

Bwahahaha! Tell me, I said more than twice that the other stranded sounded 'familiar'. If you can guess who/what his name is I will give you a blessing. In the end of next chapter, you will receive a cookie from me! And a free hug! AMAZING!!

Well, not much to say really. Late again, as school is eating my time up like a (insert clever simile here). As usual, I really can't say when I'll be back, or whenever I update this particular story. Yes, I know Its short, but I can't have every single chapter a million billion words. I have to have something between those ridiculously long chapters that are huge struggles of life and death! But it was longer than laaast chapter, so… yeah! While the next chapter is going to be about as long if not shorter than this one, it will be a little bit more interesting… I think.

Well, being that it's late for me, and I just can't fathom anything else to say,

Adios-

(the unknown simile leaps out of the monitor and immediately eats EZB's head in one gulb, and then dances on the stub of a bleeding neck)


	33. Choppy Drop

(In absolute blackness, a sudden light begins to rise as a large metal door slowly floats up, revealing a hallway of light. A six foot man, around eighteen with short blond hair and dark green eyes walks out, not shaven in a week and wearing what could be a leather jacket that fell to the floor or a very dark bath robe.)

I hath return to thee. (snaps fingers, as a huge light, a sun in the sky flashes on, revealing the scene from which the story last left off.) So, aside from being back, I have some other things to talk about. Namely, and what most importantly is on most of your minds, WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

(walks over the church, where the character Eric is frozen in mid step, descending the short steps to ground level) Well, I said sadly enough that I would return October. Aside from getting into not one, but three plays, each where I have a major role, some personal issues had come up that put me into a slight… (spots a dirt ball on the rugged armor of the young soldier) writing block.

So that is one reason, and of course (walks into the church, where the nun and her group of children nervously made their way out of the building, still frozen) there is more. Gears of war just came out, and that put me at a disadvantage, due to the fact where I have infinite control over my stories, I am broke in the real world. (movement continues as the nun and kids leave, and the gears look on with slight annoyance and uncertainty) So I have had to use Youtube as a source as spoilers. The game looks great, and what's more, I now have to realize some things.

(Eric pops in, startling the others as he walks over) First of all, because this story is base on 'what would happen if Master Chief joined the war on Sera', it will stick with that general theme. BUT, I will have the events in Gears of War 2 played out, but there will be certain changes. I cannot say what those changes are (Eric walks out, telling the gears he'll give them a ride to Shervo Station) but I can at least warn you of coming similarities. Ugh, but who honestly likes to hear an author talk to much? (begins to walk out of the church, back into blinding light)

Well, I guess I'll see you all at the end of this chapter. After all, while I have much more to say, I don't want to keep you all waiting. So without further ado (the light beings to close up and down, slowly leaving only his head visibly) Let the Men of War continue. (snaps his fingers and the blinding light closes)

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait-" Baird suddenly blocked Marcus, glaring at him. "This is our best plan? Seriously, I mean you've come up with some shitty procedures, but-"

"It's either we trust them, or we start cross country, which could take more than a day," Marcus replied, not surprised Baird had something to say against his plans. "You have a better plan?"

"We could get rid of the Strandeds," Carey suddenly hissed," his eyes cold, but oddly enthusiastic.

"Yeah, just when they come to rescue people, strandeds we're talking about," Dom stated," the good 'ol Gears of War come out and waste them just for their own sake; that looks real good for us, doesn't it."

"Well, it could work," Richard agreed, however with a lack of excitement. "War sucks, and not everyone wins-"

"Those kids had enough shit, and the nun-" Dom fought again, yet stalled as the Spartan walked right past them, and outside the doors. "I think we have a general agreement."

Once outside, the chief got a good shot of what was new. One large truck, pulling two attached sections for passengers or supplies sat in front of the church. Well armored with plates of steel welded to its sides, the back sections had a roof of steel grating no doubt taken from a forgotten fence. Muddy tire tracks led to the sixteen total tires that supported the truck and two cargo add-ons. The windshield had several bullet holes inside, and was crusted with a dark material that was hopefully mud. The either side of the truck sat a strange motorcycle. About the size of a mountain bike, they each looked rusty, second rate, and home constructed out of spare parts. Each also had a weapon holster for a shotgun or rifle.

"They are resourceful at any rate," Cortana respectfully complimented the stranded humans.

"Holy crap," Baird said in a state of surprise and disgust," they actually use that… well, crap?"

"They sure scrapped the warthog," Cortana said as she noticed a large scrap sheet of metal that read the former vehicle's unit number on the side of the truck.

"Like you said, resourceful," the Chief added.

"We're putting the kiddies in the front cargo section," Eric said, returning from the side of the truck, glancing back and forth to see if any of the other stranded had returned. "I don't think its good on any rate for the others to know we're doing anything involving gears, especially carpooling them to a pickup zone."

"How'd you-" Dom asked.

"Just a guess!" Eric exclaimed, his arms up in innocence," you guys look like you've been in hell anyway."

"You would be surprise how close you are," Mark mumbled as he examined the homemade truck.

"We ran through a locus fortress," Marcus elaborated," we thought it was… abandoned," he shot a quick, but brutal 'I won't forget what you said' look to Baird, who took two steps further from Marcus," and it turned out every wretch from hell and back were taking a nap or something there. And we were loud enough to just wake them up from their pissy little cat-nap."

"But ah man," Cole said in general, over with Baird," it was all that and more when we busted our asses outa that shitfest!"

"So you had a normal day then," Eric finalized.

"Yeah, just your normal day at work," Howard said finally making it down the stairs. "We have ourselves one interesting ride."

"Yeah-"

"So how are you going to break this news to the other riders?" Mark said, turning from a quick inspection of the truck. "I can't see anyone but other Gears being happy to help us, even if it is just a ride."

"I… don't plan on telling them exactly," Eric formulated as he spoke," I mean, I want to get you guys there, but getting attention isn't big on my agenda."

"We're not sneaking in, are we?" Cole asked, disappointment riddled in his voice," man I hate that shit. No one knows I'm here-"

"Cole, we need to get to that station," Marcus said," even if we can't brag about having you as a teammate," he added, not daring to bruise his ego entirely.

"Yeah, shit, whatever."

"So what's the plan then?" Baird quickly said before any more side conversations could fire up," are we suppose to hide in crates, or cardboard boxes, or what?"

"I wish. The only stuff you could hide in would be some whiskey crates, and considering they're a little larger than your rifle…"

"That's a no," Marcus clarified.

"Yeah. What I was thinking is that you all hide over there," Eric started again, pointing to a cluster of bushes," until we all begin to take off. The cycles start first, and the truck usually has a six second delay before it his any speed past five miles per hour; its engine sucks rotten ass."

"So, we hide, run, jump aboard-" Dom recounted each step.

"Hold on, you want us to chase after a truck with a timer of… six or so seconds??" Howard asked, his brow furrowed as he disliked the idea of chasing a vehicle.

"And why aren't we just getting on now?" Mark suddenly realized their missing opportunity.

"Right, and you want them to bring back boxes of materials, food and drink, only to find two squads of Gears chilling out in their back lot? Wouldn't going to work well for you all would it?"

The men paused again, the lights of 'all aboard the train to home, the easy edition' burnt out and they were left with the idea of waiting for the right moment and having to run what could be twenty feet in six seconds while trying to climb aboard a truck that was pulling away. As Eric said, just another day at the job.

Ten minutes later, the returning voices of the other stranded drivers floated back to the hiding soldiers in the bushes. Aside from the grumbles of Baird as he had unknowingly chosen a spiders nest to jump into, causing Cole to refuse to touch him, they had been able to remain perfectly silent. Marcus and Dom were closest to the gravel street, inside the leafs, listening intently.

"You took you sweet time, didn't y… are you drunk!?"

"Whaaat? I just waanteted… one or two dreenks?"

"Get in the truck Sam."

"Ookaay- hic!"

"He was like that when we found him. Here's what he didn't finish while singing 'Life's Hot While You Live It Cool'."

"Wow, what a-"

"Drunkard," two other voices said unanimously.

"We know what you think of him, so can you please just shut it for a few minutes?" one of the two said, almost pleading.

"Fine; just get this stuff in and let's get out of here."

"Right… holy shit!" A loud cocking of a rifle was heard and the weapons of all nine in the bushes rose for a moment," who're they?!?"

"Oh shit." Marcus breathed, staring at Dom with fear.

"They're survivors! Drop the gun man! Found them in the church, it's ok, I told them to stay there, its cool." Those undercover tried very hard not to let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't do that kind of shit to me! You gotta say who's with us… they're all kids?"

"Ahem," the nun's voice entered. "If you could please refrain from certain vocabulary while in the children's presence?"

"…what?"

"She means stop the swearing, dipshit," a third, higher voice than the previous said. "Ah, beg you pardon," he quickly added, probably after receiving stares from the woman of the church.

"These people are all that's left of this place, aside from this food. This'll be good stuff if we can get that harvest up and going like dad wanted."

"Yeah, sure. Juuust like we wanted a farm."

"Shut up."

"What?"

"Guys, we're leaviiiing!"

"…I swear I can smell that crap floating over from his mouth from over there!"

"Motor one, up!" the revving of a motorcycle shook the ground slightly, followed closely by another from the opposite side of the truck.

"Same with here!"

Followed by the second shout, the truck's engines roared and hummed, sounding very old as it almost wheezed in and turned on. This was only a problem to the gears due to the fact that they were engulfed by a cloud of black smoke, and their lack of warning had most of them intake a few good breathes before needing to choke or cough their guts out. Fortunately the truck was already loud enough.

"Alright, we're up!" Marcus growled as he spat out as much saliva from his mouth to remove the horrid flavor. "Let's go!"

"Right man, let's go home!" Cole cried out from behind them.

As Marcus leapt out from behind the bushes, he saw how close in timing they had to be. The smaller motorcycles had begun to speed away, and the truck was beginning to crawl after them, howling from two large pipes on the roof, while spilling occasional puffs of smoke from its rear. Marcus put as much as himself forward without collapsing, and as he was sure it was easy enough, the truck picked up speed. He reached the end, which quickly slid open as he rapped on it's end; Eric opening the metal plating.

"Get in already!" he cried as he helped Dom and Baird up first, offering each of them one of his arms.

"Easy for-" Baird tried, only to be shaken off balance as the truck ran off a large bump, tossing him into the metal wall with a loud clang.

"Cole, gimme your hand!" Marcus shouted as he eventually got the huge human aboard. Following Cole, Alpha squad had been able to climb aboard, yet the chief was still behind them, jogging slightly behind the truck, at a strangely managed pace. "Hey! Chief! Let's go!"

"Chief, what's wrong?" Cortana asked inside his helmet.

"Cortana, can that truck hold me up?" he asked briefly, as he continued to stay in pace with the truck.

"Chief!" Eric called, arriving at the very back to get the best view of the chief," Herals will come around to monitor the rear, so if you're coming with us-"

"I can't guarantee, but it looks strong enough-"

"Good."

In three sudden leaps that were blurred in their speed, the Spartan made it easily to the very back, just as the sound of a smaller motorcycle came from one side. Eric closed the gate just as the cycle appeared, having him sigh with relief.

"You guys suck at espionage."

"Hey!" Baird cried out indignantly.

"We aren't spies, we're soldiers," Marcus defended himself," we're meant to cause a scene, not avoid one!"

"So you're inflexible?" Eric said, sitting down on one of the large crates inside the room sized cargo box. The space was cramped but room for movement. The walls, ceiling and floor all the same, in contrast to the assorted metal wall outside the single sheet that they all hid inside of. Rather than having a single large crate, at the front of the box they currently sat in was a door that lead to the primary container.

"All right. At least we got first class reservations," Richard said cheerily. "Now we can eat and… oh wait," he reached behind him from one of the crates and withdrew a large glass of liquor," make that drink our selves to happiness."

"Drink all you want, but hands off the food. We actually need that stuff," Eric said aggressively as Richard pulled out several small glasses for the others.

"Fine, fine. Hava' glass?" Richard asked to Eric, holding out a glass.

"I'm good."

"You don't know what you're missing," Richard egged him on as Mark, being as inconspicuous as possible, pulled the drink away from Richard and began to pour for the others.

"I'm not into drinking." Eric said flatly, looking away.

"Fine- hey," Richard said again, missing his newfound loot.

"Cheers," Mark said as he poured Richards glass last, smiling around to the others," to hot food, warm beds, and-" the truck jolted again, nearly tossing the precious liquid into the air," more secure rides."

"And women!" Richard added," making sure we have something to come home for!"

"Cheers!" Howard, Baird and Cole said with enthusiasm with Richard, while Carey simple grumbled 'yeah' and took a quick sip, while Marcus nodded in agreement and too took a healthy swig. Neither Dom nor Mark had raised their glasses, however Dom, who seemed to have stalled his movement, quickly drowned his drink. Mark just gently rocked his glass, unaware that the chief was analyzing each and every one of their movements and reactions.

"Hey chief," Howard asked," how about you? Or are you going to let that helmet get in your way?"

"I don't take this off unless I have to," was all the Spartan could say.

"So… what do you, uh…" Eric started, not looking at the chief directly, almost averting his eyes.

"What do I..?"

"You know… look like under all that, well, armor?" the chief was caught off guard. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had asked him something remotely like that, if ever.

"Um-"

"Short Brown hair, that's rather light in color, brown eyes, and a few good scars, and white skin," Cortana relayed, surprising both the chief and the young stranded from her candidness.

"Oh wait, he ain't black?" Cole said in near disappointment.

"Not really. I don't get enough sunlight," The Chief growled, annoyed by the fact of how self aware he was feeling now.

"I figured the scars at least," Marcus said, as he poured himself another shot. "Your suit is banged up pretty good, so I would have been pretty surprised to see anything pretty underneath that yellow glass… or golden, whatever."

"You're popular once again chief," Cortana slyly whispered to the Spartan, who was anything but pleased from the popularity for all the wrong reasons. He didn't have time for another thought through; the door that connected to the other cargo hold slid open, and the head of the drunken stranded popped out.

"Hell I wont a- woah," the slurring drunkard said as he almost walked on Cole, and suddenly realized that there were people in the room with him. Marcus and Dom both raised their eyebrows. It was the same man who had operated the lights while they went to Chap's gas station not a week ago. Filthy, watery eyed, with a dopey expression and filthy clothes that might have been the same ones he wore from the last encounter, and he nearly slipped as he did a double take. "I must be more drunk than I realized, he he!"

"Sam! Uh, just sit down, these are… uh," Eric started, his worst fears now realized for the moment.

"Who're they? Uh!? He-he," the stranded asked, more of a joke than a question," they're soldiers aren't they, come to protect the good stuff, oh yeah ah ha!"

"We're just figments of your overactive imagination, so have a good drink!" Mark said, with as much of a 'join us' attitude he could muster, while holding up an entire bottle for him.

"I must be dreaming a good dream then! He ha! Ah wait a second," he spotted Marcus's bandana, and then saw Dom next to him," Don't I know you two? Like some fool ass faces…"

"No, you're just dreaming a good, but strange dream," Marcus said, trying to imitate Mark for a moment.

"Nah- oh yeah! You wanted to go to chaps but yo burnt it all up with the nasty-ass fool he was!"

"What? You know him?" Baird asked, staring at Marcus while trying to keep his distance from the smelly man who had seated in between himself and Cole.

"Sorta. When we left Franklin's Stranded town without you two," Dom started," we had to rely on this guy for some lights. We got through, but this asshole nearly had us killed," he sent a reproachful glance to the man, who was too busy trying to swallow as much of the liquor as possible in one swig.

"Is that what took you two so long then?" Baird asked, getting angrier by the moment by the mere presence of the man next to him.

"No, we had other company aside from the human type."

"Right, of course!"

"You look like the Cole train, you know that!" Sam the stranded said to a grossed-out former Thrashball star.

"What happens now," Richard asked in a hushed voice as he inched closer to Marcus and Eric," its not like he's just going to forget we're here and-"

"Not if he passes out, or we knock him out," Eric said with certainty. "He usually is sleeping, so him being passed out on the floor is not to suspicious. The real problem is where do we drop you off and how do we stop this truck so that you don't go rolling around as we let you off."

"We can just ask for a pit stop," Mark sarcastically added.

"No, we have strict orders not to stop unless we have to."

"I can help with that," the chief said after a moment of silence," that is if you have a spare tire."

"What? What'd you have in mind?" Eric asked, slightly afraid for their safety for some reason.

"I could jump." The idea didn't hit them, as they just stared at their golden reflection. "If I jump, the weight could cause the car to break a tire or two-"

"That would be good if we had an extra tire… or we wanted to get rid of this truck," Eric replied, shaking his head. "We need this thing undamaged, and we don't have any tires, Because," he added as the others glared at him," these are heavy duty. They don't break unless you blast a shotgun shell into them at point blank range!"

"So what's your plan?" Dom asked, hoping that the young man had an idea.

"Well… I actually never thought that far ahead-"

"What!?" Marcus growled, now worried that they might have to risk leaping off of a truck or be forced to meet up with the same stranded city that refuses to support Gears now.

"Sorry! I just thought that we would have a good idea by now-"

"This stuff is GREEAAT!" Sam cried out as he leaned back, only to suddenly let out several gurgles of choking noise, and then vomit on the floor by Cole and Baird.

"Ahh hell nah dude!!"

"HEY!! Watch the shoes!"

"Whoo!" Sam cried as he seemed not to notice the pool of sick on the floor.

"…I got an idea." Marcus said, not realizing that the appearance of the sickly man, who seemed worse than the last time they had met, might be a blessing. "How much do the drivers up front like being covered in shit like that?" Eric's mouth twitched in the image created, and smiled.

"Well, I can't say they 'love it', but…"

"So we get him loaded with even more of this stuff, and then what? We wait until he pukes… as we get close to our drop?" Baird said, now openly avoiding the still sick man, aside himself with disgust. "Damn! Just how are we supposed to do that?"

"Well…"

"First of all, how far is the location?" Cortana piped in.

"Well, this truck is going at about ninety Klicks an hour, and it's only about twenty…" Eric said, trying out some math he had long since used. "Something like… fifteen minutes?"

"Fifteen minutes," Marcus repeated, not wanting to try anything like math.

"And that's assuming we could stop by the actual station… I guess more like seven if we just stop by the gated entrence."

"So if you can-"

The truck lurched as tires suddenly screeched. A cry of surprise was muffled form the previous cargo holder while Cole, Carey and Howard were all slammed into the furthest wall; Baird grabbed onto a tower of boxes, yet slid on the puddle of vomit, only to slip and land in it, his back slashed with nasty smelling liquid. The others aside from the Chief nearly tripped but stood up, their reflexes holding them up. The chief simply sat, barley effected by the sudden movement.

"What the-" Carey hissed.

Ah no, don't tell me- oh that's fucking NASTY!" Baird shouted as he realized that he was covered in the puke.

"Why'd they stop??" Marcus questioned, unsure if he should open the door.

"Could be Locust-" Dom started.

"There isn't any gunfire!" Eric thought hard, and suddenly looked to the front of the cargo container. "Oh shit!" The door leading to the other section was open and Sam was gone. "Oh crap, oh crap!" Eric nearly ran to the other side and got half way through the door as the metal plating for the cargo hold was forced open, and the entire group was cascaded with light.

"Well, isn't that a nice sight," the driver said, as he cocked his shotgun.

"Yeah, wish I had a camera," another said as a motorcycle came sliding around to stop, a Lancer rifle loaded with a sharp click, and pointed at them.

"Gears… soldiers stowing away on a Stranded's trip!" The one on the Motorcycle said, laughing heartily as he almost fell of the cycle. "The world's just been flipped up-side down!"

"Shit," Marcus growled again under his breath.

"Chief, what are you going to do-" Cortana asked worriedly as the Spartan slowly got up.

"Hey big man… I recognize him!"

"They're… these are the punks who got a free night in town with us!"

"Drop your weapons on the ground," the Driver said, indicating with his shotgun what to do.

"What?" Baird nearly whined, but Marcus put a hand up before he could go after the strandeds.

"Why? We'll just leave quietly."

"But those guns of yours, we could use 'em, see?" the one next to the driver said, yellow teeth gleaming in the dying light. His smile faltered for a moment as the chief took one step and landed outside the truck, forcing the two to stand back. "Eh! Back! And drop those-"

"I won't do that," the chief said, leaning closer to them as the driver stepped aside, and his partner nearly tipped over a large rock in the road. Still surrounded by forest and a darkening sky, they had little time before worst came to worst. "Get back in your truck, and drive away. We don't want, or need, a fight with you."

"Y-yeah!? And what makes you think-" the backing off Stranded stuttered as he watched the other Gears walk out, and move away from the truck and next to the road.

"Would you rather fight them Warren?" Eric said as he appeared from the now soldier-less cargo container. "Just let them-"

"Who put you in charge!?" the man labeled warren shouted.

"No one, but," Eric said, his eyes on the chief," I believe that would be him if anyone here was boss."

"But, but-"

"Fine," The driver said, placing his shotgun inside a holster on his back, and walked past the chief. "Garret! Let's go!" the man called warren spat angrily, yet turned for the other side of the truck and ran off.

"Ahh, oh well," the driver of the Motorcycle said, revving it up and speeding away.

"Sorry guys," Eric said quietly, angry that the plan was ruined. "I can't help you any more, but you might be able to make it if you hurry. You've got about two or three miles until the entrance," the engine roared again, and he was forced to shout," and than another four until you get to the abandoned station! You've about thirty minutes of light, so get moving!" With that, he nodded in with 'good luck', and slammed the metal grate closed. The truck shot out pebbles and dust as it again picked up speed, leaving the men slightly aware of the time limit they now had.

"Well… before we go, can someone please get this shit off of me!?" Baird yelled as he tried to rub the back of his head, to pull his hand back, covered in puke.

"Go roll in that grass," Marcus said, passing a patch of green on the ground. "Thanks kid," he said to the disappearing tuck," looks like we've got to break a record, or find a source of light when it's dark. And the chief's lights are out of the question, they don't do the job of scaring away Kryll enough."

"Understood," the chief nodded.

"Well, let's get moving then. Don't want to be late," Dom announced as they started jogging down the dirt road.

* * *

(now sitting back at his computer, still in the black clothing.) Ahh, I wonder what people will say to me after they read this. But then again, that's what the reviews are about! Bwahaha… So let me see (pulls out a paper list of things to do during 'after story')… tell them I'm not dead… ok, Check. Then, Kick Vash the Stampeded out, (looks at the spot assigned to Vash as his home corner, where donut crumbs and a sign saying 'I quit' are all that are left)… check.

Say what's on my mind.. ok!

So, let me start of by going over what happened in the time I have been gone. And this is addressed to all my fans, not just those who have read this story.

I've been sick, twice. SAT came and gone. Several movies came and gone, yet I have seen none. Hellsing OVA 4 and 5 kicked my ass. Then Gears of War 2 annihilated me, and I still love it! I got addicted to the Manga BERSERKER. My Ipod ran out of memory, my computer is working again… yes it broke. Economic crisis is murdering that street in New York, Pirates want a piece of the world rather than booty, and I finished this chapter! Ok, so a LOT has been going down, and I'm super, super, sorry for being an ass and not saying whats up.

So, now to address the most voiced question so far since the beginning. Gears of War 2; what will happen now that it is out!?

To be honest, it worked out way better than I had planned! I mean that by saying that my guesses were almost all correct, and that a few good things happened that made me proud. I REFUES to say what will/will not change due to the creation of such an awe inspiring game, but the events will be included. But, as I'm sure many of you can guess, because Gears of War 3 is likely, GOW2 will be the finally of Sera's inclusion to this story. (that was a huge, mega-spoiler if you can understand it). Characters will have to come and go, but a few things will change of course. Such as rock worm… yeah, not the monster I thought it was. I was so going LOLOLOL when I first saw the rock worm in game. "Not as bad as I thought HAHA!" was what I was thinking, while I was saying 'oh shit'.

A long of things will have to change, but none of them will change the epic story line I have going, so in fact, it just makes my story more… well, constructed!

As for what will happen in the Six months that separate game one and game two; Lung Rust, which should have been more explained in the game, will be explained in my own world. Lets see… We'll see more of Tai before Gears of War 2 seeps into my story. Project Life Boat, which I planned even before the game was out, will be included. And three other big events will play out in the six months before Gears of War 2 comes to life in this story.

So… I've spoken enough, and I think my hands want a rest. Or… they're hungry.

Before I die randomly, I say to you all, thanks for reading, and I hope to write again in the next two weeks or so! Oh what the- (the hands grow mouths and turn to EZB's Face)

Both hands: IMMA CHARGIN' MY LAZOR!!! BWAAAA-(the entire house explodes of blue lazors)

P.S.!

For Readers of HSWC: I will be posting next chapter up by the Weekend!

And to the rest of you, have a sweet holiday, and happy thanksgiving!


	34. Peace of Night

The dirt road seldom saw anyone these days. Let alone two squads of Gear soldiers and a heavily armored man over seven feet tall. It saw it's array of native birds, ground animals and the occasional locust force. Rarely did it see humans though. After all, both nearby human establishments, one a military establishment and the other a small town, had been overrun long ago.

"I hate walking this far," Baird groaned. He still smelt the Stranded's puke on his back and shoulders, burning his nose and pissing him off.

"I said we'd find you a hose when we could," Mark reminded him, trying not to agree with the arguable blond about distances.

"Seriously, it's easy when you have a bunch of stuff to do, but as soon as you have one long trip by foot it, you want to be surrounded by wretches," Baird continued, running ahead for a moment to try to wipe the drying chunks of sick on the tree's bark.

"Baird… it can't be that bad that you'd look that stupid," Marcus said, watching him scratch back and forth like a cat rubbing off its fur to a person's leg.

"You want to pick this shit off of me then? I'd give you a high five if that makes you feel better," Baird sarcastically replied.

"With a pointy stick?" Richard offered, picking up a barbed looking twig that might have once belonged to a mutant porcupine.

"Funny, really witty."

"Come on, we'll get it off you later," Marcus promised, continuing on, watching the Spartan just ahead of them. "Let's just get there and then you can have a bath, sound nice?"

"There's never a dull moment here either," Cortana said only to the chief, and he nodded briefly. "You do realize though that we only have about five guaranteed minutes of sunlight."

"Then we need to pick up the pace, don't we?" Master chief responded like always, now running.

"Hey!" Marcus shouted, surprised and running to keep up with the powerful strides the chief was making. "Hold up!"

"He sure as hell can run!" Mark heaved as they all began to run. He chose to run behind Baird, which was a big mistake, being that a chunk of sick fell of and landed in his nostril, nearly causing him to repeat another vomit session.

"Hey, chief… HEY!" Marcus shouted, his eyes stuck on something inside the woods. The Spartan stopped, turning to see the others slide to a stop, and Mark to dance as he tried to pick the dry piece of his nose. "I see the station over there, let's go." True enough, poking out around the tops of the trees were a collection of tall metal towers, all covered to the inch in tiny spine like radio antenna. Below, and barely visible from the trees all around, was the main building a large factory like complex of massive windows high above the ground and several metal fences encircling the perimeter and on the roof to deny any climbing the walls.

"You don't want to use the front door?" Master Chief asked.

"If this place was overrun, it still may be. If there are Drones here, they'll be waiting in the front for anyone to shoot as they come up. Let's go through the back, make sure that we're surprise guests," Marcus summed up.

"His plan seems solid chief," Cortana agreed in general coms. "Rather be secure than sorry, right?"

"Safe sounds good too," Mark added as they began their trek through thick woods. Thorns, low branches, several spider webs that caused Cole to divert his path entirely, and patches of mud slowed them, but within the last five minutes they found themselves at the gated back. A chain metal fence with sharp edges gave them a warm welcome, even as the chief yanked an entire section out of the ground.

"Come on already!" Baird said to a door that was stopping them from gaining entrance. "Come on!" as he hammered on it, hoping it would break, his simply harmed his hand, holding it up in pain.

"Stand back," The Chief said, stepping back, now nervous that all light could be gone in a matter of seconds. He charged, and kicked the door, only to step back, the door stronger than he anticipated. "That could be a problem."

"I miss Jack," Dom said sadly. Marcus ignored the comment and found a on another wall. Taking out his shotgun, he blasted the metal framework and glass away. Only several remaining bras of metal stalled him, as he reach up and yanked them out.

"Come on!" Marcus shouted as Baird gladly climbed up and in. Only as the others began to climb in did the last ray of sun disappear. "Crap…"

The stillness that followed the darkening skies was eerie. The forest's birds fell silent and still. Even the wind seemed to disappear as nothing moved, breathed. Only several crunches of broken glass underneath boots were heard, and the grunts of climbing soldiers. Finally, the chief jumped in, eager to avoid any danger. Yet the building was not lit; there was no light, and no protection from Kryll.

"Oh shit… anyone still have a torch?!" Richard panicked, searching around the room they had landed into for anything that gave off light. "Come on!"

"Hey guys…"

"I can't find anything!" Howard growled, kicking over several unlabeled boxes, filled with nothing.

"Guys."

"I… we're fucked… it's over, isn't it!?" Richard said, still in fear of being ripped to shreds in the dark.

"GUYS!" all eyes whipped to Baird, who was still at the window, staring out in the dark sky. "What are we supposed to be afraid of?"

"What the fuck kind of question is that?!" Marcus shouted at him as he stepped closer. Yet as he saw out of the window, the sight confused him.

"We're supposed to hide from Kryll, right? Well, I hate to break it to you… but there are no Kryll."

All eyes ran to a nearby window and peered up into the night sky. It was clear, cloudy, but the planets moons were easily visible, along with an open sky of stars. The world was still silent though, no shrieks, or caws, no rumbling of swarms of emerging critters that willingly rip apart anything with enough body mass for a meal. For the first time in… since before Kryll had been spotted, the night sky was clear of any of them.

They had disappeared.

"Lets… get some light," Marcus said, unsure of what to make of Kryll not coming.

"What the fuck," Mark said very slowly," is going on?"

"I have no idea," Baird tried," Kryll are ALWAYS out. Sometimes locust order them in one place more than another, but still, some remain and do their natural things. I'm not sure I've ever heard of anything like this before."

"Kryll come out every night?" Cortana asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I guess It's a wonder that we all survive with all of them around… except tonight," Howard explained, still searching for a source of light, but with much less haste.

"Got a flashlight," Carey stated, flashing on a bright light that cast a light blue light on Marcus, Dom, and the Chief.

"Put it on the floor and point it up. It'll act like a candle until we get power back in this building," Marcus ordered, searching an electronic panel for something that could give the building life. "Baird, you're some sort of expert on them, you should have an idea, right?"

"What, on Kryll?" the blond soldier asked, playing with a group of wires underneath the panel Marcus was exploring. "A little. Mostly what people know, so I guess that makes me expert of the group-"

"Just shut up and tell us-"

"Fine, fine!" Baird shouted back out at Marcus. "Everyone knows their nocturnal, and they're swarm hunters; sort of like pack hunters. They use infrared to find good prey and then they fly into them and shred them apart. They are carnivores, and as far as we know, never had been anything but. They come out almost every night-"

"What would make 'em do something like this?" Mark asked, peering at the night sky in awe.

"I don't know! It could be a number of things!" Baird angrily spat out. Several loud zaps were accompanied by some sparks and he winced. "They may have found a new source of food, some kind of migration we don't know about, or geological activity. I don't know!"

"Geological activity?" Dom asked, his mind recalling an event not too long ago that could have been considered 'geological'. "Hey Baird."

"What?"

"Do you think we burnt them to hell with the Lightmass bomb?"

"Wait, what?" Baird chortled, popping out from underneath the panel with a dirty face of dust. "We've seen them already, how do you expect that we killed them almost a week ago when…. Wait a moment." He disappeared back underneath the panel, and with a sharp shout of pain, the panel turned on at Bairds personal sacrifice. "It could have screwed their nests up."

"Their nests? Wouldn't they just make more?" Cole asked as his face lit up in the multicolored lights of the panel, watching Marcus search for the indoor power.

"Not if the tunnels where changed somehow that they couldn't. If you take water away from a fish, it can't swim anymore."

"Found the power," Marcus interrupted, pushing a button that resulted in a loud whir deep inside the massive station," now let's call for evac and go home. This time we're done for a while."

"What about Hoffman? He made us go after we finished his first whore chore!" Cole asked.

"I think he and the rest of command will have a while to think about what is going on with the Kryll, if we get back in time. Maybe they'll just forget about us and we walk free," Dom suggested. The lights began to turn on, starting with one florescent bulb in the center of the room. The lights splashed on a new look for the room. Bodies, torn, ravaged, and broken were strew out across the room; blood stains were splashed on the walls, and rather than dust, Baird's face had dried blood all over him.

"What?" he said, after a moment of Marcus's stare.

"Oh nothing. I'm just glad we have a mechanically inclined guy like you. So smart," Marcus bullshitted his way to safety, hoping that Baird wouldn't find out; he was tired of the man's whining for a day.

"Here, clean that shit off your face," Howard tossed Baird a white cloth, which he greedily smeared all over his face.

"Come on lets go," Marcus headed for the closest way out, a hallway now flooded with the same kind of light, just as Baird began to stutter in shock over his face being coated in a bloody mess. The hallway lead them down quite aways, stretching on for several minutes, more and more sections of the building rumbling on, possibly heat, general defenses, and hopefully, communications. If they could get a message out soon, their chances of survival go up dramatically. Marcus knew that while the Kryll may be taking a break, the Locust certainly would not. If they find out that someone, a small group of someones, got inside an easily overran building, they could be killed before the chopper was even in sights.

"Hey," the chief suddenly said to Dom, who was in front of him," who's Jack?"

"Jack, Jack of All Trades robot," Dom replied, turning his head as far as he could with his thick neck. "I was assigned one for a while, but several days ago, HQ issued a need to upgrade the standard editions, and we've been without him for a while."

"You guys had a Jack!?" Mark stuttered, amazed that they had blessed with a miracle of technology as that.

"Oh yeah, that talking tin can got us far," Cole said matter-of-factly.

"They're a floating robot," Baird explained," that are used for various scenarios- if it's welding doors, storing information, they can do a good number of things. But the tech section of Headquarters decided to issue an upgrade order to all those who had one with them. Oh, and they have a personal cloaking device, so we haven't lost one to the Locust yet."

"Hear that Cortana? They had a cousin of yours with them. Only, he has his own body and you don't," the chief taunted Cortana for a moment, resulting in a strange short circuit in his armor which zapped him, which he knew was her response.

"I'm sorry chief, there appears to be a strange circuit malfunction inside your armor-"

"Very funny."

Marcus exited the hallway, finding himself in a circular room. Around the one massive wall were more panels, each reading a black screen with several words displaying a need for 'password identification'. Closer to the center was a circle of panels similar to the one Marcus used earlier. At the very center, or where the center should have been was a column of wires and pipes that lead through the roof. All around were spread papers and overturned chairs, occasionally with a broken coffee mug. They had found the main communications station.

"Sweet," Baird said, pushing his way to the center of the room, inspecting the wires," it looks all good, we just might get a-"

A slight ruffle of sound had everyone direct their guns to one panel to the right. Underneath the communication black screen was a space, something ruffled around in the papers, not caring for the noise it made from behind an overturned chair. Cole stepped slowly forward.

"Careful man," Richard said as the black man passed.

"I got it, I got it," Cole breathed at him. He stepped up, and stopped, staring at the dark space between the chair and panel. In a quick movement, he kicked the chair away, and backed away, only then to jump up in fear as something large and black ran out, whimpering. The others frightened by Coles movements and the sudden dart of black leapt back, turning and trying to get whatever it was that had leapt out.

"Get it, get it!"

"It's over here!"

"No, EESH!"

The chief watched as two squads became a frantic dog chase. The others had frightened a small black dog, smaller than a cat. Only Marcus had refrained for joining the fray, watching in amusement as a black pug walked back to Cole, and sat down next to him.

"Aww, look at this little dude," Cole said, picking up the black fuzzed canine with bulging eyes up to his face. "He's a right damn trooper!"

"Holy crap it's a dog?" Mark asked, getting back to his feet, as the others did as well, some actually moving to the panels.

"He's 'Babyface'," Cole said, checking the tiny collar around it's neck.

"Babyface??" Dom asked, picking the dog up for a moment. The face looked oddly squashed, it's nostrils open and forward, it's mouth pulled back and it's eyes bulging out like a bullfrogs. It had anything but a face of a baby.

"Nice dog Cole," Marcus said," he yours?"

"Maybe," Cole said slyly, holding the now smiling dog with a tongue that was too large for it's mouth, sticking out of it's mouth.

"Hey guys, I got a connection!" Baird shouted, waving them over.

"Stay little guy," Cole said to the dog as he put it down. As Cole walked away, the dogs stayed perfectly still, until it began to spin itself around on it's rear like a spinning coin.

"I just need a password," Baird said as Marcus and Dom looked over his shoulder.

"Password? What- how big of a password??" Dom requested.

"You see this line!?" Baird said angrily, pointing at a line that stretched across the entire screen," that's how large the password can be!"

"Great," Marcus groaned," we aren't getting through this thing by typing every single possible code. Spread out and look for-"

"Ground walker!" a grunt growled as it raised its weapon, and fired at the group. All nine flung themselves at possible cover, except for the dog, which had began to squeak high pitched barks at the now distracted grunt.

"Take him out!" Marcus shouted as they all popped out from cover and retaliated, firing back at the appearance of the Grunt, who then jumped aside, running back into it's hallway. "Shit! Dom, let's go! We can't let him tell other's we're here!"

"Yeah, assuming they haven't guessed from the gunfire!" Mark shouted.

"You go look for the password, I'll stay here and try to… override the password I guess!" Baird said to Mark and Richard.

"We'll provide cover for him," Carey flatly said," go. We'll be fine."

"Hurry!" Cortana shouted after them as both leaders of the squads left to their own chore," they could swarm in at any moment now!"

"I hate having to beat a clock I don't know what its timer is set to," Baird grumbled from under the panel.

* * *

And so, we now have three things going on. What else could possibly happen? Oh, I don't know, maybe the Author gets bored for a moment and conjures up a totally new story that is his own experiment. Maybe.

Yeah, aside from the usual 2 stories that I post at the same time, I have something I'm testing still. Another epic story that I think has great potential. But I won't know how good, or crappy, it is until I hear some advice from the readers! Ah, but aside from more 'GO READ MY OTHER CRAP' message I usually give, I have a present to the others.

What happens during a holiday in the non-serious world of my stories!

First of all, Halloween!

(-)

"What the hell are they wearing!?!" Dom shouted as several Locust with Hockey masks charged out of an emergence hole, swinging machetes over their heads like clubs.

"Do we really need to know!? Just shoot them!" Marcus said, mowing down the charging Jason Voorhees dressed grunts.

"Incoming!" Cole said, as he ducked, spotting something large being thrown at them from a Locust grenadier dressed as a pirate. Baird didn't see the incoming projectile, and felt the force of a caramel coated apple colliding with his forehead.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" he shouted as he tried to pull it off, resulting only in him falling forward.

"It may be some kind of stick grenade, lets get out of here!" Dom shouted, running away from Baird.

"Hey! GUYS!!" he shouted as he tried again and again to remove the apple from his head with no avail. Suddenly, he was alone, and heard coming Locusts. "Guys? You're coming back… right??" he was surrounded with locust, all with strange bags of cloth, bulging with something inside. "What… what are you doing??" as soon as he asked, they started taking handfuls of hard candy out, and throw it at him as he screamed like a little girl in pain.

(-)

Now, Thanksgiving with the Locust horde.

(-)

A massive cavern spanned on for possibly, ever. Hundreds of tables, which too seemed to span on forever. Thousands of thousands of Locust soldiers lined around the tables, all decorated in homemade holiday sweaters. Suddenly speakers above the table, held up by massive stalagmites screamed the voice of their queen, and the thousands bowed their heads in respect. "My children, this is the day we pay heed to our forebears. Their fights will not go on unfinished, and their love to hate out enemy will be carried out in this holiday I have devised. On this day we will heat roasted Kryll, Seeder jello, Brumak leftovers, and Mashed Nemacyst. Later, we will hibernate for 36 hours and then continue our crusade to the surface! Enjoy our meal!"

Not a single grunt moved. Many glanced at each other, unsure if she was being serious. Finally, one grunt stated in a guttural deep voice," Ah hell it cant be that bad!" he reached over to the roast Kryll, pulled off a wing, and placed it in his mouth. After chewing twice, he suddenly became white, and fell back out of his stool.

"I hate this holiday," the grunt next to the now dead one said. "NEW PLAN!!" he pulled out a shotgun, and blew the opposite grunt's head off. "Be thankful for GUNS!!"

Slowly the entire hallway became a massive battlefield, as the tables were overturned and used as barricades and grunts found joy in killing each other for other 36 hours as their queen enjoyed a quiet meal of roasted turkey.

(-)

And of course,

The 'Holiday' holidays (Chrismachanaquanza… and new years)

(-)

All four gears sat together, bottles of champagne, beer, and wine surrounded them. They all faced the Chief, who had taken his helmet off to vomit several times. Their newest game had become use the wrapping from gifts and throw it at the open helmet.

"Oh wait," Baird suddenly said, reached around his back and pulling out a small box. "for you man," he handed it to Marcus.

"Hey, thanks," he pulled the top off, and tipped the box over, catching a solid rock in his hand. "A rock…"

"Yeah! Now you have something that thinks with the same IQ you do!" Baird said cheerily, before being knocked out by the very rock he had given Marcus.

"I love the holidays man," Cole said, patting Baird's unconscious head gently.

"Me too," Dom said, drunk like the others.

"It's too bad we wont remember what he looks like," Dom said again, staring at the helmet less Chief.

"Don't worry, being with you fella's is the best gift a guy can get," the chief slurred.

"Aww!" they all got into a big group hug, sobbing in tears. Only then did a torque bow come racing in, stab the chief in the head, and blow up all five of them at once. Popping up from behind a large rock was none other than Gordan Freeman, who held up a sign reading "Tragic, Aint it?"

(-)

Ahh, good, all that random crap is out of my head now. So, enjoy 2009, as the stories continue, and so does the world! OHO almost forgot. I must die ranomly- OH SHIT! i used up all my random with that holiday crap!... EASY BUTTON!! (looks at a red button on his desk with the word 'easy' on it) HELP!!

(clicks button, and sudden a large shape with the words "16 tons" falls on EZB. Gordan Freeman pops out from behind the weight with a sign that says "Thats All Folks!")


	35. Hells Hunting Party

"Over here, over here," Mark shouted as he and Richard ran through the tight corridor they had chosen to search for the password. The walls were more and more panels; being that this facility was a massive communications center, every inch of space had been devoted to the tedious task of making sure everything was in perfect shape and perfect order. The two gears at the moment could care less about the various things they passed, only thankful that the many illuminated buttons, along with the ceiling lights gave them direction to head. But the small space had been designed for simple clothed working men and women, not well built and heavily armored soldiers who had nearly doubled their width in pure protection.

"Here, here," Mark said again frantically, exiting the puny space and into a large, but still comparatively small and circular room, which was built similarly to the larger main communications terminals in the primary. Small TV's lined the walls, each one displaying a security camera's vision. Papers were strew about as unorganized as anybody could hope papers could be. "These papers, there might be something like... like-"

"System functions?" Richard tried, holding up a paper harshly in the air.

"No, look for security: I bet that's where it is!" with that, they started searching quickly for the possible candidate for 'salvation'. But it proved tricky; there could have been thousands, and they did little to keep those already searched in order, just tossing it above their heads angrily as they found what they didn't want. Richard scanned the floor, turning things over and over, while Mark slowly made his way to the terminals with TVs. Tossing a large packet on 'Obligations and Dedications to the country', he hit a switch that changed several screens at once. The change of light caught his eye, and he paused, looking into the security camera of the far back lots, which were protected only by a large railed fence.

"I bet… it's somewhere here," Richard growled as he continued to toss papers all over the place. Mark barely heard him, staring at the one camera that watched over the back fence. In its black and white vision, he saw the ground give way far away from the fence, and several large hands begin to pry themselves up.

"Oh shit," Mark glanced away, not daring to guess what might be coming out of the emergence hole that had just popped up. "We need to hurry up-"

"Got it, got it!!" he yelled, pulling up from the white covered floor a single paper with a spreadsheet of controls for com systems. "I bet Baird would love this- oh shit," he was staring at a different TV screen. Mark too glanced at it; another view of the outside from another side of the building. More emergence holes were coming, along with all their snarling companions.

"Here-" Mark said, holding his hand out for the paper, which was granted to him quickly. Under the light of a TV, he scanned for 'password'. "Systems check… Reboot… Help… you think he may be able to hotwire the actual controls?" he asked to Richard, who was busy watching the TVs. "Richard?"

"Dom and Marcus," the private first class responded," check 'em out." He was watching a single Grub searching for cover as gunshots blasted just above it's head. It seemed to find cover just outside of the TV's range, but it was obvious it had been trapped to a certain degree. "I think they've been following us," Richard continued saying as he glanced through the other screens. "They didn't need that one bug to spot us-"

"He was just lucky," Mark darkly said. "He's the first to start fighting, but I bet he'll be the first one dead," he started back for the exit. "Baird's gunna be pissed when he finds out he'll need to yank out cords."

"So?" Richard spat as they both ran back to the others," I bet this is a hunting party sent out for us since we broke the damn fortress! And we wouldn't have if we hadn't gone inside, so I blame it all on him!"

* * *

The drone spat on the ground. Glancing from it's protection, it spied Marcus and Dom closing in on it. Snarling with its thin lips, the scout pointed out its Hammerburst burst-action rifle, and fired off three complete shots before darting again. As it did, hot bullets passed it, only furthering and embedding the single phrase into its head.

Serve the Queen.

"Ground Walkers!" he hissed as he slid to a large and slightly worn reception desk, and turned it over. The hallway it had just exited opened up to the main entrance; glass walls and doors stood behind the grunt, transparent and displaying the near freedom so close, ready to embrace him, to allow him more service to his loving queen. Yet from inside the hallway, two elevator entrances held protection for the two who had followed. "Die!" it roared, tossing a grenade quickly at them.

"Shit-" Marcus saw it slide right past them, and gave it a jerking kick back at the grunt. The explosive tore apart the sparkling ground below, opening a gaping crater, knocking back both gears, and blasting the overturned desk apart. "Dom, you alright?"

"Fine," Dom grunted, getting back to his feet. "Sure wants out!"

"Don't let him," the Sergeant growled, peering through the wood-dust that had been sprayed out into the surround. "I don't see it."

A Hammerburst shot off once at them, and they ducked. Again it was heard, but shattering glass immediately followed.

"Ah, damnit!" Marcus gave up waiting, and charged, not caring for what awaited, but not willing to allow the scout to escape. Dom yelled for him to wait, but he could have cared less at the moment. Dom would have wait for him and scold later. Letting this grunt go could have them all killed. And as he leapt through the dust, there was the grunt, one of it's legs torn open, dark blood pouring out as it limped away, just outside the building. "No you don't!" Marcus roared, revving up his gun's chainsaw, and plunging it deep into the defeated grubs spine. It screeched and twitched as the spinning teeth ate through the back and insides as easily as a mole through muddy ground might. The only thing Marcus saw different was that the Grub was harder to clean up. And it stunk like hell.

Ripping the gun out of the dead grub, muttering a final prayer to it's leader, he let the body fall. Nearly split in two, it always felt great to watch one fall, splatter, and remain still. Even though it happened so often, and kept happening, it felt great every time.

"Nice… a little close," Dom complimented, nodding as he walked up, "Oh damn," he quickly paused, stepping back," smell gets me every time."

"Yeah?" Marcus inhaled, expecting himself to be used to the musk of a Locust's death. He quickly gagged. "…Yeah it does. Hey Baird," Marcus said, his hand to his ear," we got rid of the grub, so we should be ready for air-"

"Nu-uh," the blond soldier replied, angry and more bitter than both he and Dom had expected. "We have more visitors, according to some 'TV panels'."

"What do you mean?"

"Guys," Richard quickly said," we've got more emergence holes popping up all around. Looks like someone didn't like the fact we fucked up their tropical, underground getaway-"

"What matters is…" Baird paused, Mark's and the Chiefs voice in the background. "Shit! Get back in here!"

"What!?" Dom exclaimed, staring around him and Marcus for any signs of incoming. "It looks clear up here-"

"Get in, get in, GET IN!!" Baird shouted louder and louder.

"Baird, shut the fuck up!" Marcus shouted. "Nothing is out here. No holes, no grubs! Just me, Dom-" a large piece of steel lining fell from the roof, clattering between them. Exchanging glances, they both turned and slowly looked up.

"THEY'RE ON THE FUCKING ROOFS!!" Mark yelled in a hellish panic. "WRETCHES, MAYBE REST THAT SURVIVE FROM THE FORTRESS! AND MORE-"

He was absolutely right. Only Marcus and Dom couldn't hear the rest- the line went dead.

The roof above them was now creaking with hundreds of more wretches, their eyes glowing in the dark night, their wet bodies shining in the lights of the station as it began to rain. Many crawled up to the towers, many more on the walls- Marcus was reminded of a time were he stepped into an ant hill, and ants had begun to furiously pile out… it sounded very familiar. He wouldn't be able to say anything, not even a swear of lost hope. The wretches had already begun to attack.

Screaming, the two rolled back to the building, standing back up just in time to see an entire line of them fall onto the ground.

"Take cover!" Marcus shouted again, tossing one grenade at random back at the entrance while he and Dom charged back inside. The explosion accompanied by gurgles of death was softened by the wet ground, yet water and pieces of glass and ground zipped past the two as the hid themselves back by the elevator. They only needed to wait for a moment before the next wave appeared. More wretches hobbled along, one actually stopping to send off a battle scream of rage. "Let's do this!" Marcus said, loading his gun expertly.

"Right behind ya," Dom replied as they simultaneously turned and opened hell to the oncoming wretches.

Unlike the last encounter with these creatures, Marcus and Dom were in far better surroundings to deal with large masses of hopping wretches. Their weapons were not as powerful as they had been last time, but the environment made up what they lacked in firepower. The small hallway worked for a funnel, forcing the mass numbers into a clumped group, letting bullets reach as many targets as possible. Evan as they bounced around, trying desperately to close the distance between them and the Gears, there was just no way. Even the slightest shot could penetrate several bodies at once, increasing the deadliness of just one or two shots.

Marcus never saw it coming from behind them though. Slammed against the wall, a wretch had snuck through the back way, and struck at him. Marcus grasped that the building must have had other ways in, but again only wanted it off and dead. "DOM!"

"Right!" Dom quickly reached with his knife, and flung it over to the wretch, cutting into its back as it howled in pain. Falling off Marcus, it gave the gear time to turn, drop-kick it, and then put one bullet in its head.

"Here," Marcus, spotting several behind them again, and killing them before tossing the knife back to Dom. "Thanks for that."

"Sure!"

Finally, drones appeared, and after five or so more waves of bodies threw themselves at him. The wretches had begun to scatter, and armed combatants creep in, using what little cover they could- others outright walking up to the entrance, firing as the slowly walked up.

"So these are the ones they saw!" Dom shouted as he reloaded his rifle. "Shit, only three clips man."

"Here," Marcus kicked over a Hammerburst that had slid over from the last fallen Grub. "We'll fall back, but not while they're walking up on us like that!"

"I figured as much," Dom nodded, blasting ones head off in a well placed shot. "Ground beef!"

"No burgers please," Marcus chuckled, joining the gunfire, exchanging bullets with a grub that had taken cover by yet another overturned desk. "Hide all you want- you're all going to die anyway!" The Grub in question roared back the typical inhuman voice, and shot back out, ready to take a shot. The back of it's head blew up as a bullet zipped through like nobodies business. "Steak tonight."

Again, the Locust retreated, seemingly frightened by the terrible human veterans. After all, the word 'Veteran' carried incredibly more significance than it had many years ago. Before the wars got out of hand. To be a veteran simply meant you survived a war. But these days, survival rates were lower than dirt itself, in the Locust hands. Only those who could avoid those hands and live on could be called Veterans, those to survive and continue and keep on fighting for humanity. Locusts had little to fear- it wasn't in their blood. But if it was, a true veteran would cause them nightmares. Only they didn't.

Locust were taught only to hate.

"They're backing off!" Marcus said, stepping back and slowly away from the subtle protection of the hall entrance.

"You think they had enough?"

"No idea-"

Gunfire echoed from inside the building.

"Sounds like we're in for more than just a normal scuffle," Marcus continued. "Head back, we can…" he paused, feeling the ground shake very slightly. More like quake for moments and tiny intervals. Turning his head to face the dark, raining night, he was terrified of what it could mean. "Oh come on, don't do this…"

"_**Boom**_." Three separate lights flashed for a split second, revealing tall, heavy Locust Boomers, leering terribly at the two.

Boomshot Grenades soared through the glassless door and right for the hall. One flew past, one hit the wall outside, and the other struck five meters away, tossing both off their feet and causing on wall to collapse entirely. Marcus lost all sense of were he was- he could sense pressure on top of him, but there was this terrible whining buzz in his head that just wouldn't let him think. Yet he felt the world around him re-materialize, and found himself under a huge chunk of wall that had fallen on him. "Dom?" he groaned, shoving off a metal pole from hi scratched leg, and pushing away the heavy wall with difficulty. "Ugh- Dom? Dom!?"

"Hey Marcus," came the weary voice of Dom, who had a bleeding forehead and several other scratches over his shoulders. He was as injured as Marcus, but with a concussion. "I'm… a little dizzy, you know?"

"Get up Dom," Marcus said, getting back to his feet, and running quickly over to him, only glancing back once. The boomers were slowly advancing into the building.

"Hold on, I'm a little tired," Dom waved him away, like he was daydreaming some fantasy long forgotten.

"DOM! GET UP!"

"_**Boom**_."

Marcus wouldn't let it happen. He spun around at the very first sound of locust speaking; his gun aimed for one of their weapons, and screamed, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" He started firing just as the grenade was shot, and the bullets made contact with the explosives just as they exited the large, three barrel, grenade launcher. The monstrous grenades blew up, actually tossing one Boomer back, it's face scorched off, while having the other two step away from the flames, grunting in dislike. "Dom, now is the time to get up!"

"Sorry," he apologized desperately," Help me up man!"

"Right," Marcus pulled him up in one arm, and started hobbling back for the main communications room, far inside the building, a good five minutes walk at their rate. Behind them, the boomers were steadily following, and reloading in anger. Marcus shot wildly behind him, prepared to do anything to delay the Boomers from reloading, or worse yet, attacking. "Come on…" he prayed, just to get into the staircase they had taken down- after that the boomers would be no longer a threat.

But his ears picked up the sound of two growls and cocking of weapons. He turned, ready to look death in the face.

"Sorry Dom," he groaned, watching as the Boomers steadily moved their sights onto the now still men. "Not sure how to get out of this one."

"Leave me then…"

"Fuck that."

"I need you alive if I die!"

"_**Boo**_-" A resounding 'thunk' was heard just between the two. It was enough to distract them from the now flying projectiles. Below them was a strange dome-tipped-cylinder, propped up on four metallic legs. And then a very loud and strangely warm whir sounded, producing a massive bubble around them, smashing the grenades as they soared at them. The bubble looked to be made of some sort of energy, and even more strange, laid in shapes of hexagons. Yet it hummed gently, and both men gaped in shock at what had just happened.

"I don't like to compromise," Master Chief said, walking past the two, two smaller weapons in his arms, the same kinds he had used at the frigate from the forest.

"Chief!"

"Get back," Cortana pleaded through the Spartans speakers system. "They still think you're all dead, and we need to find that password or we risk dying here!"

"Go," the chief simply said as the shield fell away.

"Fine with me," the dizzied man replied.

"You sure about this?" Marcus replied, still holding up Dom. With a curt nod, the two moved up the stairs. "You'll tell us what that was when you come back!" the Sergeant barked at him before disappearing.

"You heard him chief," The AI noted, "Get to it so we can please them some more." With that, he held up the two SMG machine guns and let loose on the stumbling Boomers. They grew annoyed with the bullets, turning and tossing as if many tiny insects were biting them all over their bodies. But they slowly succumbed to the large clips and devastating nature the dual wield SMGs had. The thick armor became irrelevant as he grew closer and closer, one already fallen, and the other just about to bite the dust. Yet the clips ran dry, and the beast saw its opportunity. As so did the chief, spotting more backup on the way.

"Catch," he said, tossing a spiny object similar to a small baton, but covered with several barbed spikes. It stuck to the face of the now raged Boomer, who grasped up at the stuck spike grenade, oblivious to the retreating Spartan. The grubs closing in never knew what had happened as a small explosion impaled every surface within five meters, easily turning the Boomer into a freak porcupine and the others into pin cushion.

"You going to explain first of all the… bubble thing, and then that!?" Marcus pointed to a spine in the stairs, allowing the chief to take Dom, who still hadn't recovered. "What the hell was that?!"

"Spike Grenade. Toss them at enemies, and those," he nodded to the spike that had impaled the two feet of solid concrete," fly everywhere. Don't get close to them."

"Really?" Marcus complimented, his voice full of impression. "And what about the light in a jar?"

"Bubble Shield."

"I see that, what is it!?" Marcus growled.

"It's a personal and anti-artillery energy shield used to protect you and others from virtually anything that is outside the bubble that could possibly threaten you," Cortana said, glad to be of use. "We found a crashed weapons pod inside the building- it's how some Wretches got inside. We were bringing it to the main coms room-"

More gunfire was going off- but it was different than what Marcus was used to. It had a strange whir to it, like a whine of a missile as it streaked past, or the way a bee would sound as it passed an ear. And what was more, it small 'thuds' pronounced each of these whirs.

"Sergeant Agron is getting to used to the Needler," Cortana complimented. "At least they're all adaptable."

"Needler?" Dom asked, still delirious.

"That… could be more complicated to explain," Cortana thought, unsure how to project alien technology. "Maybe when I have the time you can get a lesson."

"Holy shit," Marcus stated, stepping through the doorway into the first hall. A massive incision had taken out half of the wall, a sideways weapons pod at the very end of the scar. Inside laid some ammunition clips, several grenades, and a similar object that had create the sphere of light. "Never spotted this scratch."

"Too busy catching a grub," Cortana remarked. "Odd thing to have happen I suppose."

"Pick up what you can," The Chief said, pulling up the Bubble shield and placing it by a magnetic holder. "We're going to need it."

"Yeah?" Marcus sarcastically replied, snatching several obvious hand grenades. "I couldn't tell through the armies of wretches and boomers that had come to kill us-"

As the saying went, speak of the devil. Or snarl, as it was a Wretch that flung out from the staircase and bashed itself against Marcus and Dom. They both grunted, tossed off their center of gravity and onto the floor. The chief instantly grasped the back if it's neck, and twisted his hand quickly to the left, sounding a series of satisfying cracks. He flung it behind and back into the staircase, where more growls were crawling up to them.

"Lets move," the Spartan said again, helping the two up.

"Marcus!" Cole shouted, running down the hallway after the three, with Carey just behind him, his sniper at his shoulders, ready to fire. "Damn man, am I happy to smell your ass!"

"Another time!" the Sergeant grunted, helping the still stricken Dom with Cole. "Let's go!" the Chief turned with Marcus and Carey to slowly back away, letting more and more Wretches leap out into the hallway. Carey's perfect shot landed him a splattering headshot each time, but it would have been obvious overkill if the others had not been there. The Chief carried his two SMGs, while Marcus held his Lancer Machine Gun proudly at his side, letting Cole get Dom back to his feet and to the safety of the now barricaded station. The steel ways vibrated as more strange sounds echoed from inside the communications center.

"You have got some strange ass-weapons," Marcus said at the sight of a orange ball being tossed into the face of a wretch, instantly lighting them ablaze. "I like 'em… toasty."

"Burnt is more like it," Carey solemnly stated.

"Yo! Get your asses inside," Cole shouted from a new barricade, erected outside the entrance of the spherical room. As Dom had taken to helping Cole at the barricade, Marcus and Carey continued inside, leaving The Chief to aid the other two. The room was messier than it had been before. Stray cartridges lay around, some lucky enough to be in random piles, others tossed across papers, some surrounded by shells or cases- it was a hell of a cleanup job. The first thing Marcus turned his eyes to, his very first priority, was the Blond man at the center, now angrily pulling wires in and out of the walls and floor.

"DON'T SAY IT," Baird threatened through clenched teeth.

"What the hell happened!?" Marcus turned to Carey, holding an odd pink instrument that looked like a scanner that covered above and below the hand, if it didn't have pink spikes sticking out from the top.

"Seeders knocked out anything from medium to short range- and we can't get outside and fuck 'em up because of these wretches- who seem to have a grudge for us!" Mark growled, non too please to be in such a situation. "On the plus, the chief found one of those weapons crates- and we got some weird shit man! I've never seen so much pink… well, kill so many things!"

"I could see Cole in a tutu causing mass suicide," Richard causally said, blinking in fright. "I know I'd be among the first."

"I'll ask what that is later," Marcus said, ignoring the comment on Cole, and focusing on the Seeders. "Where are they?"

"Just outside!" Mark growled again," and that's not the worst of it- looks like we have an official army after us- not some cheap shit little raiding group that wants us dead-" the floors rattled and shook with the bang that tore through walls all around. Roaring loudly, a huge cannon had blasted into the side of the building, and reached their very room, stopping short of completely demolishing the actual communications area. All but Marcus, the Chief, and Howard were tossed to their feet, the actual air ripple tossing several against the wall, and sliding the excited pug of a dog into a dark corner, where it cried in fright.

Staring through what used to be three walls and rooms, the chief glared at a Brumak's Cannon, support by non other than a Brumak, lesser in size than the one he had taken down before, but equally vicious looking in the night, with it's array of eyes glaring at him. Yet it wasn't the massive monster that glared at him that sent a small shiver down his spine. At it's foot stepped forward a tall, massively built armored and familiar body.

"DEMON!" The general shouted. "Your heresy will be punished tonight!" S.C.Y.T.H.E. roared as he slowly raised a hand up and pointed at the Chief. From the ridiculously large Emergence hole, hundreds of Grunts began to storm out, weapon laid in their arms.

"Me **must** have blown up a summer retreat," Dom shouted out again, easily able to hear the guttural howl from outside.

"Tell me where the Seeders are," the chief quickly said as he stepping inside, staring at Mark and Marcus, who had just gotten to his feet.

"What? Uh," The inexperienced Sergeant raked his thoughts," Just by our own way in- but its filled with baddies- HEY, WAIT!" the chief turned immediately and took off for the same hall that had taken them here.

"Deal with the Brumak! I'll get the Seeders!" the Chief said as he vanished.

"Great!" Baird hissed, pounding his keyboard. "And to top it off we still have no password!"

"Type in 'shut up and work!''" Dom shouted from the Barricade.

* * *

Master Chief was nearly flying down the hallway, using every available source to propel him forward and faster to his objective. The metal sheet walls did little to get him faster but the impact and sheer kick that pushed his foot into the wall itself was enough as encouragement.

"Chief, how exactly do you expect them to hold off a Brumak while we take care-"

"The Brumak will follow us."

"And you know this how?" Cortana replied.

"Scythe wants _me_," The Chief stated. "He could care less about the others."

Another blast ripped through the building, just below the Spartan, having the hall cave in. The entire wall as gone again, and he finally hit solid ground, plus some flames and broken metal. The Brumak had indeed been following, turning to face him progress, and possibly fired from pure luck. The General was marching over, holding those cylindrical grips in his hands. He had those energy weapons, but the chief did not. He had not choice- last time could have ended nastily if the others hadn't shown up, particularly Cole. But He was on his own and had the Seeders to deal with. He stepped back up, and charged into the building, retracing his steps until he found himself inside the very same room they had managed to crawl inside, deadly afraid of a never coming Kryll Swarm.

"Come on Chief!" Cortana urged, the shaking steps of a Brumak coming around the side of the building as he spotted the nasty seeder, sticking itself slightly out from an emergence hole. Already, Nemacyst had started to appear, and as he ran, one was spat out, and glided into the air like a jellyfish of the sky.

All the Chief could hope for was that the same effect the plasma grenade had before on these would produce cloned effects. As one more of the airborne creatures prepared to make an appearance, The chief charged up, leapt off one of the propped up legs, and jammed in the sticking grenade, and fell to the side. The side of the insect blew off, sending a wave of greenish yellow goop at the chief, who did little to prevent it.

"Guys," the chief said, testing the com systems," any luck?"

"Chief! Sweet job man!" Richard instantly replied. "The Brumak is following you though- but we're having troubles with could be an ENDLESS HORDE OF DRONES!"

"Finally, I can get some-" Master chief never heard the rest of Bairds words. He was thrown forward tens of feet, landing against a wall with a resounding whack. He had lost track of his guns, and could barely feel his own hands, let alone his entire body; the general had one hell of kick. Falling out of his impression, he stared up at the general himself.

"Sins… you are born, made, of sins," the Locust leader hissed as it advanced on the Chief, one of the plasma blades activated and humming eerily. "You can only make more of what you are, demon." As the chief got back to his feet, S.C.Y.T.H.E. halted his progress, staring at the supposed demon. "No… weapon?"

"Nope," the chief regrettable confirmed.

"Sad," the general tossed the blade aside, and leaned back, tossing it's arms in two clearly executed circles, and held them in front of him," I'll have to pull your head off for the majesty herself."

The General was as fast as the chief had remembered, but it couldn't help him react. He had only stepped to the side quickly enough for the shield breaking thrust-punch to miss. The General's eyes followed him though, keeping track of his movements as he weaved around; the chief occasional holding his arms up in a mock shield, being that this Locust was strong enough to break through his own personal shields. He struck back, aiming for the damn things head, but couldn't get a close enough shot to even scratch the damn thing, let alone try to bust it's head open.

It grabbed hold of his arm, and tossed him, spinning him over with his own weight. His training had gone over once more detail personal combat, but if anything, he was rusty. He rolled over quickly, avoiding a stomp that could have easily crushed his face plate. Finally, with a well aimed punch, he bruised the generals leg, as it growled and took several steps back.

"Suck it up," Master Chief prowled up again, going for the offensive as the bolted, leapt and gave S.C.Y.T.H.E. three successive kicks at once- each one however easily blocked. And as he landed, several quick jabs came at the general. Yet he could not harm the damn leader. It leapt above him, actually managing to land on his shoulders, standing perfectly straight above him. Before he could react, the Spartan's face had been kicked into the ground.

"Chief!" Cortana shouted worriedly.

"I'm fine-"

"So it is true," the General said. "The demon harbors the words of the bitter enemies…" the General stated, grabbing the helmet's light visor, and pulling him over to see him. "Tales about you- they never cease to amaze on how they come true."

"Stop talking already," the chief, held up by the hands on his head, used a perfect jerk from his legs to smash the Generals head in a rough head-butt. "You're the only Locust who has that problem."

"Demon-"

"Stop calling me that," the chief insisted, blocking two more attacks, each time retaliating as best he could.

"WHY!? Does it hurt you that you have not only failed before, but bring upon the end of all things!?"

"What are you talking about?" The chief said, holding one of the punches tightly, not willing to let go.

"Humans… you aid them over and over… agents of death and chaos, those who will stop at nothing to end it all-"

Bullets bounced around the two, and the General launched himself away from the Spartan, and darted off into the darkness, a feeble tail of bullets following him.

"You just know how to bring the best in people don't you!?" cried Sergeant Fenix. "Can we leave?!"

The Chief stared at Marcus for a moment. Luck again was at his side. But he turned and glanced at the spot where the General had leapt out of sight. Something spooked the Chief about the Locust leader. Something he couldn't quiet put his finger one. He wasn't an easily scared person- or he was just very used to be afraid, and had lost all feeling of it. But the General reminded him of things. Locust seemed to have no personality- just a mindless machine made to slaughter. Obviously there was a leader somewhere; and this wasn't what scared him.

When he was called 'Demon', it felt like he had never left the war he was sure he had finished not one week ago.

"Sure," the Spartan grunted, getting back to his feet. He charged back inside with the Sergeant, but stopped inside the hallway, realizing something. "Hold up," he called as he punched two holes into the metallic wall, and began to pull back the metal.

"What're you-"

"Anything that follows us will want to come this way, which is not guarded," the chief quickly said, stopping once the wall completely blocked the pass, only to run closer to the Sergeant, and pull another metal over, from the adjacent wall. "this'll slow them down."

"Just hurry it up, they can cut this all down if they get the chance-"

"I DON'T KNOW GENIUS!!!" Baird roared in anger, exasperation, and anxiety, easily heard from the hallway.

"I'll go ahead," Marcus barked, running after his squad mates.

"Type in fucking help then!!" Richard retorted.

"I did-"

"AGAIN!!" Richard roared. The chief appeared at the entrance, pulling back the last metal wall he could, while drawing several stares from the noise.

"No one wants to go back right?" the Spartan asked. "Good."

"Look," Baird grumbled menacingly, slamming on the keys to spell 'help'," all it says are some very obvious instructions, for a book we DON'T HAVE!!"

"Shit," Mark said, holding back Richard, who was damn ready to start a fist fight with Baird," just let it go for a moment, we do have locust outside, you know? Shooting at us?"

"Type in 'fuck you'," Dom suggested sarcastically.

"Oh yes," Baird said, snapping somewhere inside his sanity," YES, why didn't I think of that! Let's see," he typed, acting very calm and controlled as bullets zipped by," f-u-c-k, y-o-u. Enter, oh and look," Baird continued as he chief returned with Marcus," the two fucking local heroes show up!"

"Cool it Baird," Marcus growled, sliding up against a wall to spy on the still outside Brumak, which seemed to have become slightly lost without it's main leader, now firing at the empty front lots of the building.

"Cool it, YES, another great thing to type in! Lets see- oh but wait, we already have the computer saying something, don't we!?"

"Baird, shut the… wait, what?" Richard said, doing a very classic double take.

"Yup, being a smartass, saying 'Enter ?', because that is obviously… hold on," he paused, his anger evaporating with realization. After repeating the phrase 'Fuck you' into the command yet again, the same phrase returned. "Great, just what we need. A programmer with a fucking sense of humor."

"What d'you mean?" Carey questioned, performing more excellent shots.

"It's not what we call standard procedure to have the code 'fuck you' give you a hint to the password," Baird explained.

"I wish," Dom responded. "Be a hell lot easier figuring out what's wrong with a computer."

"A face only a mother could love?! What the fuck does that mean??" Baird shouted angrily.

"What?" Cortana asked. "Oh, just let me hack it!"

"No, wait hold on," Baird said, holding his hands up to the advancing chief," let me do this one, please! I got to know I can at least get us the hell out of here."

"But-"

"Let him," Marcus said softly. "Just for the hell of it."

"Alright," Baird said to the others," After I typed in 'fuck you', there was a question mark. I typed it in again, 'cus I figured something might happen: I got 'A face only a mother could love'. Anyone want to guess what that means exactly!?"

"A riddle?!" Mark asked.

"Yuuup," Baird confirmed.

"A face… hold up yo," Cole said, rushing in from the barricade, and immediately began to scour the low ground.

"Cole… what are you doing?" Marcus said, just as Mark tossed a grenade out the wall.

"C'mere… c'mere, where are you little man?" Cole said, talking to the papers and ground as another explosion shook the building, the lights above flickering. The pug, no longer assured that the corner of shadow was safe, ran out and hid by Cole's massive shadow, in the middle of the open. "Aw, here you are doggie! Was' your name?" he checked, looking past the squashed face and buggy eyes shining in fear. "Babyface!"

"What? Baby's face?" Baird asked, ready to believe anything.

"BABYFACE!" Cole shouted, holding the dog up to Baird, who rose his eyebrows at the dog, which began to smile at the blond man.

"Wait, that makes sense, doesn't it!" Richard cried, shooting the still marching hordes.

"Yes it does," Howard shouted from the Barricade, having taken over for Cole," a face only a mother could love- mother and baby, and isn't the dog a pug? There's some Irony for you!"

"Type it already!" Richard shouted, desperate for some confirmation.

"Alright!" rapidly pressing buttons, the words on the screen finally read 'Babyface'. Baird quickly pressed enter, and a loud, cool, confident man's voice said "Password Confirmed."

"Oh yeah, this guy is gooood luck- he's troopin' with us!" Cole said, still holding the dog.

"Shuddup," hissed Baird as Richard shouted with joy and Marcus also began to open fire on the Locust below. "Marcus, you're go." Marcus stepped over quickly, grabbing the microphone handed to him from Baird.

"This is Sergeant Marcus Fenix, leader of Delta squad! To any Cog ravens- or hell command, if you can hear us, we need some withdrawal ASAP! We have Alpha squad and… heavy Infantry as well! Sorrounded by Locust- I repeat, we are in need of air withdrawal ASAP!!" For two clear and terrifying moments, no reply came. Only then did the voice of a young woman respond, tired and groggy.

"Marcus? Oh my god," Anya sounded through," you all made it! We thought you might have died when you didn't call before sunset-"

"We'll explain everything later!"

"They Kryll are gone!" Mark shouted at the speaker, but was held back by Marcus.

"Kryll are gone- what??"

"We'll explain later!" Marcus shouted," Just get us the hell out of here, now!"

"R-roger, diverting several King Ravens to your location- A-12, right? Right, Five King Ravens will be there in fifteen minutes, so hold tight!"

"Thank you Anya!" cried Mark, turning to continue his attack on the grubs.

"Thanks Anya," Marcus grunted. "Delta out." He turned to the chief, who had been watching him. "What?"

"How come they didn't know about the Kryll?" Cortana asked for the Chief. "Shouldn't they have-"

"We're completely grounded at night, ever since the Kryll showed up. But Jacinto Plaza is too lit to detect any sign of Kryll activity- they can't get close enough. And Kryll are stealth; don't show up on radar. So, we're blind to their activities. But I'm sure people out there have noticed. It'll just take them a while for it to spread around-" A loud buzzing sounded by the metal wall bent to block the entrance to the room. Sparks flew as a chainsaw partially appeared at the side of the wall, cutting its way slowly down.

"Shit!" Marcus and Baird each fired, producing bullet holes, and the occasional bloody splatter that came through them. Dying, weak grunts floated out, and silence fell after a resounding thud. Yet, the chief felt nervous.

If there had been one…

A lighter whirring could be heard outside the blocked entrance, and Marcus instantly knew what had been placed at their doorstep.

"Shit, move!!" he grabbed Baird and pulled him aside, jumping out of the way as he did. The Chief rolled to the side just as a Troika, mounted just outside the barricaded door opened fire. The hailstorm of hot metal ripped the bent sheet of steel apart, tossing it at the communications platform, which began to disintegrate under the sheer firepower. A grunt, laughing as it fired more and more did little to aim, just happy that it had been able to blow things apart. The station began to spark and shatter, the panels, key boards, wires- everything it had began to fall apart under the suppression of the Troika. Some time later he stopped, looking on at the damage it had caused as more of its fellow grubs ran past, ready to strike.

Yet five soldiers ran in front of them, and fired away in retaliation. The chief, taken up his classic Assault rifle stood at front, alongside Marcus, Richard, Cole, and Howard, and glared into the eyes of those coming.

"Well, I'd say it's best time we get the FUCK out of here!" Baird shouted from the cleared wall, assisting Mark.

"WHAT!?" Marcus shouted over five simultaneous rifles going off.

"G-T-F-O, sir!"

"Right," Marcus growled, backing away for a moment as the other four continued the carnage. "The stairs that lead to the main entrance can probably get us to the ceiling. Let's roll!"

"Right!"

"Yessir!"

"Yo hold on," Cole said, retreating to pick up the still smiling pug. "Ready to roll!"

"Chief, watch their rear," Cortana reminded, as the cog soldiers began their march to the stairs, ready for anything.

"Right," he confirmed, backing away from the hall, and then sprinting to catch up, spin around to easily take out two more following, and then follow again.

"Up, and kill anything aside from us that moves!" Marcus barked as he almost rolled onto the stairs, his rifle ready. They began their ascent, watching the stairs below, covered in darkness; the floors below had lost power. Slowly, wretches began to appear, hobbling again up the stairs in pursuit. The group hadn't all filed inside yet; chief, Dom, and Howard still had yet to start climbing.

"Watch the sides!" Richard shouted, spotting several targets almost at their level, using the walls.

"Just come on!"

* * *

Well now, it's about FUCKIN' time I gave you amazing readers something new, isn't it? So…

Yes, i know it's a terrible cliffhanger, and one that doesn't do justice. Sorry.

There you go, second largest chapter out. Hope it kinda makes up. So…

Let us review on what has happened since I last was able to say something to you dudes and dudettes who are just too cool. New prez iz in… some pirates stole a boat… or two… our economy is tanking A.T.M.… (lol, what a pun, At the moment, atm machine… ah…)

Well, nothing to mega exciting, Plays, jobs, procrastination, etc etc. You already heard all of that, so I'll just skip it. I'm sure you all are just happy to have something new to read, RIGHT?!

Anyway, I seemed to have abandoned my typical one to two week posting schedule, but that doesn't mean sometimes I get lucky and post one early! Still, to those who say 'HEY, are you going to continue posting?'

FUCK YES. Let me make this VERY clear. If I ever want to stop making this awesome story, I will SAY it. I will NEVER, EVER leave something just hanging out there. I WILL NOT. Ok, I may have if it's just me, but when you all, you great readers who make this all worth while, I cannot, will not, leave this hanging until it is done. Which could take a good DAMN while.

Oh, and to those who want answers like 'How Long will this take?' I'll just say this- as my ability grows, the story size does. I guessed that this entire story would be done by… honestly, this coming summer. NOPE. Even if I updated every week, assuming I had the time, that would be nearly impossible.

Ah, that just reminds me- People keep asking me questions or requests. And I love it when people get so into the story that they want part of it. Well, if you are THAT interested, in a Review, ask me a question, or write a (_minor_) request (_by minor I mean a particular line, setting, small event, OC you have in mind_), and In the next chapter, I will do my best to say 'Yay', 'Nay', or 'Hey?' If I don't answer you in the next chapter, I will probably do that in a personal Review response- either because you ask something that could be consider spoiler material, or… I don't know.

Anyway, write away!

And now for… a random death.

(right next to EZB, a decayed body falls out from nowhere, and lies perfectly still)

Well… another literary device. A Random… Death.

Cya Next Time!


	36. A Push and a Shove

Marcus kicked the door clear open. What could have been miles of stairs finally ended and he smashed the thin metal door open to a bitter cold evening. What was more, clouds were beginning to move in, and thunder shook the air. Normally Marcus would have preferred to watch the lighting from below, or hell, watch a replay of thrashball years ago. But he, and his group of men, were being chased by maniacal human-killing monsters. So he would risk being fried by the lightning versus a certain death below.

"Dom, you got it!?" he barked as Dom grunted, his head still giving him pain.

"Yeah man, gimme a second," Dom groaned said, looking sick. "I have to puke, I think…"

"Get sick later," Mark growled, literally tossing everyone through the door that was behind them, aside from Cole, Howard, and Master Chief, who immediately turned to the door, and bend the edges in, almost welding it against the doorframe. "Yeah, that'll stop them for… thirty seconds?" he said angrily.

"Thirty seconds can mean life and death," The Chief reminded him.

"Fine! Baird, Richard," Mark ordered," watch the door!"

"Sure," Richard immediately moved closer to the welded door, his gun ready at will.

"Listen," Baird said, nearly getting in his face," I don't take orders from you!" he pointed at Marcus," I only take them from-"

"BAIRD! Go cover the door with Richard!" Marcus shouted as he, Howard, and the chief scanned the side of the massive rooftop. Baird's hand bounced, his pointing become short, sharp jabs in the air of anger.

"I'll go watch the door then," Baird growled in defeat," since that's obviously going to be the worst thing that'll happen to us!" thunder rumbled again, sharper and louder than before," assuming we don't die from a little electrocution!"

"Baird! The door!" Marcus shouted again. The rooftop had been made in a choppers image. A large, lifted Heli-pad was centered in the very high platform that was the rooftop. Bright Search lights were positioned all around the edge. Although only two were on, those two illuminated the nearly pitch black rooftop. Accompanying the Search lights were series of smaller, red and white lights on the helipad, and a massive radio tower, with various larger red lights that hummed and dimmed periodically to warn away coming helicopters from smashing into them.

Marcus placed a foot by the guardrail near the edge and peered down. Many more grubs and emergence holes were appearing. And Marcus knew that somewhere in the dense forest awaited a Brumak. It didn't look so good.

"That Raven needs to get here now," he darkly assigned. "Or this could end soon, and it could end harshly.

"Took us about… less than five minutes to get up here," Howard said," the chopper could come in… fifteen minutes, right?"

"We aren't going to last more than five more if we stay up here," Cortana summarized. "The way the enemy is moving clearly indicates they are going to either overwhelm us, or flush us out. If we stay up here like planned, we are not going to have enough ammunitions to take down an entire army, even if you steal their own weapons as you kill them. The percentage of that succeeding is just too slim. And if we try to run, I predict they'll come up from under our feet, and we'll be finished without ever trying." Silence followed these calculated words. The Ai however grew impatient. "Well? What do we have to contribute to this plan??"

"Sounded more like a death sentence," Carey flatly noted. Silently the others agreed.

"No, there has to be a way out of this," Marcus took his foot away and marched from the side of the building," this isn't over _yet_."

"Okay, so we blasted our way out of thousands of wretches before, but there was only way out of that one," Baird started, not soothing Marcus's mood," **up**. But we can't get any higher than this, can we?? Well, unless we die and go to heaven, and then I guess we're really saved, aren't we?"

"Baird, shut up," Marcus grunted.

"Hey, you almost killed me when I fucked up! And now we're here, and-"

"And??" Marcus said, taking a few steps closer to Baird, who reconsidered harping his leader.

"And… now you better find a way out of this one, or I want a promotion when we die!"

Marcus shook his head and walked over to Dom. Before he could utter a word, the door suddenly shook, and wretch grunts shook through the concrete walls. Baird and Richard swung around, and began to sporadically fire into the door, producing clean bullet holes.

"We don't have much time…" the Chief said quietly, looking around for an idea. The only thing he could think of was using the radio tower. Maybe if he hacked the supports down, the metal skeleton would fall and they could use it as a makeshift ladder and escape. But Cortana noticed his eyes fixing up the metal skyscraper.

"No, the locust would swarm it up and they'd just have another way to get at us. We're lucky enough that they sides of this roof are a sheer drop, and wretches can't get up," The chief nodded as she said this, still trying to think. There was always trying to jump, but that was only in worse case scenario. That would almost certainly lead to death, or in Bairds idea, suicide. Sitting on the Heli-pad, he was sure he was missing something.

"Dom, you okay?" Marcus asked his old friend again. Dom was getting pale. His wound hadn't been sealed, nor had it clotted yet. It had slowed in it's flow of blood, but it still leaked a steady, but faint trail of blood.

"I think I hurt my head worse than I thought," Dom said, now sitting down, and putting his weapon down, scaring Marcus even more with the later action. "Take this, will ya? I don't think I'm in any shape to do the fighting."

"…okay. But you owe me a drink later for letting you off this easily. Just," Marcus tossed Dom's rifle to the Chief, who immediately caught it, despite looking the opposite direction," keep your pistol out, alright?"

"You got it," Dom said, smearing blood out of his eye. Marcus turned, and walked to the Chief.

"What's this for?" The chief asked.

"You can pretty much use anything that comes your way. So use that… Cortana," Marcus said in a hushed voice," is Dom going to make it?" he peered to his left, to his friend, who had moved over and began to sit against one of the heli-pads supports. He was worried with Dom's steady deterioration of strength, enough to think he could be dying.

"He may have a serious concussion," Cortana said, linking directly to Marcus's headset only, allowing him privacy from others," or worse. But I can't tell unless we get him to a safer place, one with medical equipment. Until then, all I can say is that we need to find him some help."

"Perfect," Marcus groaned internally," because we just happen to be in the right place for all of that…"

"We need to get out of here, or we are all going to die," The chief stated. "Like it or not, we need a plan-"

The door, still undergoing tremendous fire burst down, a huge arm smashed through, knocking several dead wretches through. However the arm wasn't done, it shredded the entire small hut of a doorway out, revealing a hulking figure climbing it's way out and onto the roof.

"No, no, NOO!!!" Marcus shouted. A Berserker, seemingly sent by the devil itself, had climbed up the staircase, and by the handrail dangling from one of it's shoulders, had destroyed the majority of the stairs with it. "NOT FUCKING NOW-" Before Marcus could even begin to despair more, the Chief darted past him, a blurry outline of green. Without a general consent to attack, Master Chief yelled, and flung himself full speed into the Berserker. The metallic grey monster felt the full impact of the Spartan, and slid back, grinding up the ground as it pushed against the mega-soldier. The Chief actually started to fight a Berserker hand-to-hand.

"Holy shit!" Richard said, tripping over a pipe sticking out from the roof in his haste to move away from the fight.

"Yo guys!" Cole shouted, the pug still proudly snuggled in his arms," we got wretches climbing our sides!"

"God damnit!" Marcus roared, picking up his gun again and jumping onto the landing pad," sights on the sides! The Chief's going to handle her, we handle them!"

The Berserker had stopped the Spartan's continuous shoving just feet from the drop. His pushing had actually been enough to leave clear marks on the ground, each a solid footprint. Yet he felt enough, if not more, force pushing against him now. The Berserker shrieked again, and swung itself up, tossing him nearly into the air, he managed to cling on to her, wrestling to stay as close as possible to her.

It growled again and grabbed one of his arms. Without pause, he let go of her with his other, and began to furiously, and rapidly, punch the chest of the monster. It grunted with each impact, but still maintained a firm grip on him. She pulled back, trying to snap his arm off with an awkward angle, he followed the movement by flipping around in a cartwheel, landing right side, but turned away from her. It was his turn now; he stomped his foot into the concrete, and pushed forward, pulling it off balance. It yelled in surprised as he pulled it almost into the same hole it came from. Yet it again resisted his efforts, and this time spun around, holding onto the same arm.

"To the right!" Marcus shouted, directing Carey to the two Wretches that had popped out and charged at them. Each were taken out in a series of sniper shots.

"Too easy," Carey commented, a sick smile on his face

The chief was lifted off his feet, and was lifted into the air from the momentum. It was trying to toss him off the building. He was sure he would survive such a fall- but again the worry was not so much as him, but the others. They couldn't beat this thing with what they had, or at least from what he knew. It let go of his arm, but before he was launched away, he grabbed onto it, and spun right back onto the building, and slid from the speed he landed. Kneeling, he again charged the monster. But this time it was ready; it roared and charged back. The chief and the beast met, and Master Chief was no longer sure he was fighting an enemy, but trying to stop a freight train.

The audible smack followed by a crunch as both figures lost their balance, and slid in the concrete, but the Berserks path. The Spartan had been knocked cleanly off his feet, and was pinned down by the behemoth of a creature. It glared at him, through the visor, and he stared back, unsure of what to do.

"Eat this you bitch."

Marcus stormed in out of nowhere, with Mark's Needler. Pointing the weapon pointblank into the face of the creature, he fired the weapon, eyeing it with hate as needle after needle stuck in it's face. An entire clip of whatever the weapon was loaded with was imbedded into the Berserker, and it reared up. The chief rolled aside, now freed. He knew that Marcus had no idea what was about to happen with those needles, but if the Berserker turned back to them, it could kill them all, and it of course, involuntarily. So he took one finaly procedure to kill it; he ran, jumped, kicked it's back with both legs, and shoved it off the side of the building, and through a wave of newly come wretches.

Both Marcus and Master Chief watched as a pink explosion to match artillery shells impact flared up, killing those creatures unfortunate to be caught in it's space.

"What that hell?" Marcus gasped from the explosion, but the chief stared in gratification. To him, It always felt good to kill non-humans with non-human weapons.

"Just a side effect of the Needler," he added, turning to face the others, still engaging the coming wretches. He would have gone after them to help, but a falling tree caught his eye. "DOWN." he grabbed Marcus and slung him and the Sergeant to the floor, just as a General from far below yelled-

"FFIIRREE!"

The Brumak below shot it's back cannon, the largest of it's weaponry. Several massive missiles raced out and smashed into the side of the building, piercing through the concrete with disturbing efficiency. The opposite side ironically suffered the most damage, being that the rockets acted like Torque Bow- exploding once imbedded into the structure. The other side of the building was nearly smashed away completely. The entire roof shook at first, knocking all the soldiers off their feet, but it was not done there. All the lights went off, leaving the spreading fires of the building below as their only source of light, and that of coming lightning.

The building slowly tilted away from the Brumak, the internal supports not strong enough to hold the skyscraper in place.

"HOLD ON!!" Mark and Marcus immediately shouted.

"SHIT!!" Dom said, sliding down the now slanted roof. He desperately tried to cling to the landing pad, like the others, but missed, and rather clung to the radio towers. All but the Chief had been knocked to the ground, and he only remained upright by folding loose wires from the handrails.

"Okay, I'm okay!" The building suddenly jerked, and stopped its movement to the ground. The roof was now at a rough forty degrees tilt, and the Radio tower, it seemed, had just lost all it's support from below. It groaned and creaked as it began to fall. Yet Dom, who held to the back legs, was being lifted up and into the air as only the back two legs broke. The other two held fast, letting the tower fall. "NO I'M NOT, NO I'M NOT!!" Dom screamed in surprise until the tower smashed into the office area of the building below, shaking the tower yet again, almost throwing the frightened Hispanic like a rag doll into the sky, but his arms were stronger than his head at that point, and he held on.

"DOM! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Marcus shouted at the sore soldier.

"Never been better!" he called back. "A rescue would be nice any day!"

"Great, just wonderful!" Baird said, struggling to hold on to one of the many supports of the pad. "As if things weren't bad enough, now we have gravity working against us too!"

"Start thinking of some sort of plan!" Richard said, frightened as he stared down into the fiery abyssal below him.

"Okay, lets call in some super advanced soldiers all in futuristic planes to swoop in and rescue us!" Mark said, a former hope that the Chief had backup somewhere still held close inside him. "No??"

"Sorry, fresh out," The Chief said, jumping over and onto the landing pad. As soon as his weight hit the platform, it groaned loudly, not being able to hold his weight comfortably.

"CHIEF! OFF!"

"Not the best time to get some good sights!"

The others were screaming at him to get off as they all began to climb away from the center and desperately try to get onto the actual platform. But the chief wasn't listening. With the sudden sound the platform had made, a strange, exotic, and possibly insane idea had flashed before his immediate mind. Without hesitation, he moved to what he dubbed the 'front' of the platform. Using his bare fists, he curled up the metallic plating far back.

"Chief, what the fuck are you doing!?" Mark shouted, sighing as he rolled into the platform with the Spartan.

"I'm getting us out of here."

"How-"

"OH!" Cortana suddenly gasped. "Everybody get onto this thing now! Get out from underneath it and get on! Chief, you might want to curl the sides and the back as well-"

"I know," the chief responded, lifting up Cole, with Babyface the pug, now scared for it's life as the floor no longer obeyed her sense of 'flat', and Richard immediately up, before sharply bending the back up, crating a mock wall.

"Guys, I can't get down from here!" Dom shouted as he continued to struggle himself up. Then the closer front leg of the radio tower gave way, and the entire thing began to curve, positioning the hanging Dom just above the raging inferno. "No, nooo, nooooo!"

"Dom!" The Chief suddenly said," when I say now, let go."

"ARE YOU INSANE!!" Dom roared back as he watched the super-soldier pull up the sides of the landing pad as well, but not nearly as far as he had done with the front, nor as sharply as he had done with the back. "Maybe you are…" All but Dom were now present on the platform, and the chief was not willing to leave one man behind now, not when he had just come up with the perfect way out.

"Do you trust me enough?" the chief shouted, preparing to jump. "You don't have a choice. We can't get to you; you're too far out. The only option is to jump. Just do as I say and jump when I say…" Marcus stared at his long time friend, pleading with him silently to do whatever the huge man in green said. All the others, with confusion in their eyes wondered whatever the chief was about to do. They had no place to go, and it sounded like wretches were about to come up and swarm all over them from all angles. "NOW!" The Chief quickly hopped into the air, just as Dom prayed very quickly to god, and then let go. The supports under the platform gave instantly away with the Chiefs returning feet, and suddenly it lurched ahead, following the pull of gravity just like he predicted it would.

Wretches all began to pull up, only to have their heads smashed and crushed away as the platform zoomed ahead. Half of the gears fell back against the wall the chief had pulled up, just like he predicted they would. And Dom fell right on top of them, just like he hoped he would. Another boom told them that the Brumak had fired a final rocket barrage at the building, and a fiery explosion told them they were correct. What was left of the Communications Center collapsed, and they were still flying downward. Yet, in a split moment, they were united, had escaped certain death, and were doing the impossible.

They were riding a massive, wide, and metal Snowboard away from the locust.

"Brace for the impact!" the chief said as the burning wreckage of the building left his sights and only the ground was there to behold. Suddenly he felt at eight pairs of hands on him, and he wished had hadn't told them.

The Spartan snowboard smashed into the ground, but didn't crash. It worked just as he had hoped- the front being peeled back provided a dampening to any damage that could have happened, and they suffered minimal turbulence. However minimal was still huge, and half of the men were tossed into the air, and slammed back down, who all groaned in pain.

"Chief, how are you going to steer!?" Marcus posed as they spotted the road they came from drawing nearer, and the thick woods that would easily stop this escape to a broad halt growing even nearer.

"Like this," The chief proclaimed, and grabbed a side of the surf board creation reject, and pulled it up. Again, the men that had not taken a firm rolled to a side, and were stopped from falling out due to Master Chief's handy work. Yet, as the chief planned, the board slowly shifted it's path, and eventually turned into the road, and was flying downhill- out of luck or coincidence.

"This… is fucking BADASS!!" Baird said, watching the road zoom by them. "This thing doesn't even have wheels-"

"I say we keep this thing," Dom said, rubbing a hand though his bloody hair," and make it a national sport.

"We'll need it intact to do that," Marcus said, facing back at the still burning building.

"Yeah? Master chief can slow this thing down, can't he?" Baird said again, patting the green armored soldier roughly.

"I don't know about you, but those Reavers don't look like they will let this thing get anywhere," Marcus finished, watching as the flying monsters started appearing from above the treetops. Two suddenly whipped themselves out, roaring as they 'bounced' in midair, soaring after the very fast moving bobsled.

"The Chief has to steer- you all make sure they don't get on top of us!" Cortana ordered from the intercoms.

"Alright, you heard the lady!" Marcus confirmed the order, jumping to the back wall, and readying his Lancer rifle," Keep them off the… thing!" he roared as the gears lined themselves at the walls and prepared for the coming fire.

"Down boy," Cole said as he placed the dog, now bouncing merrily with the constant shakes and jolts caused by the passing terrain.

"Let 'em have it!" Marcus ordered as he fired on the closest one in his sights. The attack Reaver and its duo of locust returned fire.

It was not uncommon for firefights to happen in motion. More times than others did it happen than expected; a Gear scouting party or expedition get caught off guard, and retreat, all while firing behind their backs. Most of the time however the Locust would overwhelm the Gears, coming out of the ground like possessed undead, their infinite numbers small compared for their lust for human blood. Yet nothing quite like this had been seen before; people of course had seen similar things to the massive board that was flying downhill and to the distant city, but no gunfire had ever been seen coming from and to such a sight.

Even the locust were now unsure of how to attack the strange makeshift vehicle. The Reavers were good, but the two squads of Gears were doing even better, fending away the bothersome flies that usually struck fear into average soldiers. Again and again the locust tried to open emergence hole, and to little affect. The massive armored 'Spartan' would warn the soldiers of coming enemies, or a slight change in direction. He was steering easily, and it was frustrating to the massive army sent out to them. Growing the numbers of Revears seemed the sub-terrain monsters only option.

"Two to the left!" Mark roared, reloading the Needler, which gave a dramatic 'schwink' as the needles emerged.

"I see them," Baird groaned, resisting the rattling of his bones as he let his gun spew out hot metal. "Marcus, this isn't going so well!"

"I can see that, thanks!" Marcus shouted, now using his Snub Pistol to inflict as much damage as he could on the now closing in Reaver. "Chief, how long before-"

"HOLD ON," Master Chief said, grabbing a side of the platform, and pulling it sharply to the right, again knocking most of the soldiers off their balance. A massive green and slimy explosion coated Baird, the remaining goop of a Nemacyst that had dive-bombed at them in his ears from high above the dark sky.

"AH- that's just NASTY!" Cole said, holding his nose, to the smell. Baird, now knocked over, and still covered, stared wide eyed at the sky, using every mental capacity to curse and swear whatever powers caused him such bad luck.

"Someone get me up before I jump off and slaughter them all," Baird breathed with a dark tone that could match Carey's. Cole started to pull him up, only to be shoved on top of him by another turn of the land-board.

"AWW HELL NAW!" Cole yelped, rolling off Baird, who had been smacked flat by the impact. Cole started to pull off the glutinous slime all over his arms and toss into the rushing wind, hoping that it would land in the faces of the Grunts pursuing them. All of this in turn spurred the small dog to start yelping with enthusiasm, smelling Bairds slime covered face with interest.

"Baird, Cole!" Marcus said, covering for their absence of gunfire by shooting down the closing in Reaver. "Get that shit off you and get back in the fight!"

"Easy for you to say," Baird said, sneezing some of the slime off him," I can't smell myself anymore. I think my sense of smell died so that I could live."

"Holy shit- GUYS!" Richard screamed, pointing to the edge of the forest. Tree were being tossed like bowling pins up into the air as something massive rocketed through the forest next to them. Whatever slung the large trees behind it was fast enough to keep up, but large enough to do the theatric damage seen from the road, and the loud, rumbling quakes that soon followed each tree that came crashing down. And then a large, shining horn came slowly out from the treetops. Something that belonged on an insect no larger than a cookie was larger than the trees it was uprooting, and it was attached to something even larger.

The beast that caught Richard's eye was a monster aberration of what they had been fighting for the past several minutes. A Reaver, but far larger than they had ever seen, began to pull its way out. The sheer size was triple that of a normal Reaver, and the appearance seemed to be aggressive incarnate. The fleshy exposed areas to an average Reavers side were covered with black, shining shell, some areas chipped away with what could have been grenade explosions. The several fleshy tendrils that all Reavers used to propel themselves occasionally forward were also armed, this time by crude metal armor fashioned by the Locust themselves. Spiked, growling, snarling, and slowly drifting above them, the monster Reaver attacked.

"DEMON!" the cry of the general, actually riding the massive creature, shook the Driver. "You will not escape me!" Master Chief turned halfway, staring up at the massive creature, understanding it's purpose. It was the Generals personal ride, his steed from a place worse than hell.

"Get him away from us!" Marcus said, shooting up at the armored belly of the creature, along with all in his squad, while Mark and his men continued to keep the other Reavers away, and their occupants.

"Reloading," Carey mentioned, ignorant of a sudden claw swooping down next to him. Not only did the monster have a difference in size, but in anatomy. It had four massive claws, built like an earth crab's, only the size of a small car. One smashed down, cutting into a piece of the still moving board, and began to pull it upward.

First the men had been knocked over with the sudden jolt of a slamming claw, but now all but Master Chief began to slide to the other side, being pulled away by Gravity. What made a bad situation worse was that the board, still moving, was slowly curing into the opposite side of the roads, and getting dangerously close to the forest. Even as the chief put his full weight onto the side with the claw, it was not enough.

"Shoot it off!"

"I'm trying, just get off of me-"

"Guys, bump in the road!!" Dom said, spotting what could have been a speed bump yards ahead.

"SHIT- get it off of us!"

That isn't a speed bump," the Sparta gently said.

"What? You sure!?" Marcus said again, tossing to the Chief his gun.

"Yup." Without hesitation, Master chief stepped over, and imbedded the now churning chainsaw into the claw-like appendage and dug into it until the Beast that blocked out the sun suddenly cried out in pain, and let go of the board. "That's our stop, right Cortana?"

"Brace yourselves, or get ready for your first crash-course in flying!" her voice said through the intercom. The chief, now in the center of the balance land-board watched with apprehension as the claw slowly reached back for them, ready to this time take a soldier rather than a hunk of metal.

Cortana and Master Chief had been right. What looked like a rather large speed bump had been a sheer drop of a fissure that opened many years ago, a remnant of old battles, when the city was still inhabited. Yet it acted like a ramp, and the board, with all ten members, hurtled into the air, forcing the monster Reaver, and all other pursuers away. In midair, the entirety of passengers realized they were about to run directly into the massive, ten story tall building that had lost half of it's side to the fissure. Fortunately, the fissure had either heightened the road or lowered the city area or both, so that they were already nine stories up. Screaming in the leap, they crashed through a thin concrete wall and became coated with debris and dust. But they didn't stop, smashing through every wall inside the building until they crash on the opposite side of the tower, six stories up. With little to hold on to, the board began a spiral decent from the floor, hurtling, with all members still aboard, it flew to tree tops that hid the overgrown city park below.

A draft of wind tossed the board upside down, and all men, and a dog, were dumped out into the thick green trees below; Each person giving a quick 'ouch' or 'oof' as they smashed into a tree limb. Eventually, The Chief hit the ground first, creating a perfect impression of himself in the soft grassy ground. Above him, a perfect master chief impression was given to the tree branches, to allow light to pour in.

"How long you think before they hit the ground?" Cortana bet him.

"Three seconds."

Both Cortana and the chief counted down from three. Just after one, all members shot out from the canopy and landed roughly, grunting and groaning from the impact.

"Ahhh… Shit," Marcus said, realizing he felt twice as heavy. "I think I broke my back."

"No, you just broke my fall," Dom said, rolling off his back, and feeling up his skull. "I'm good."

"Same here," Howard said, the first to get up, rubbing his knees and elbows. "That… was actually fun."

"You mean it could have ended worse," Baird commented.

"High five?" Richard proposed to Mark, who begrudgingly returned it.

"Babyface? Yo man!" Cole cried out, looking around for his small black dog. "Babyface!"

"You don't have him?" Dom as Cole walked past him, looking around at knee height. "I thought you-"

"He slipped out during the fall, tried to get outa my grip-" a yelp and a snap was heard, just ahead of Cole. Two branches were pulled far down, holding securely the black down, who appeared to hand by the armpits, but not move. "Hey, you okay there little dude?" Cole got closer, hoping that his new friend hadn't been taken away already. A quick sneeze to the face told Cole it was alive. "Damn you're one tough cookie!"

"I'll help you pull it down," Dom said, walking over to pull away the two branches, while Cole tenderly pulled away the dog.

"Geesh, thank god that thing made the, what? Five hundred meter fall! I mean," Baird said, walking up behind Cole, annoyed with his concern only for a dim pug," what would have happened if we didn't have him with us!? We'd be lost!!"

"Ignore him little guy," Cole said in a voice that would have been used for a baby. As Cole moved away from the branches, Dom let go, not seeing Baird just behind Cole, and receiving two powerful whips to his nose. He cried out in pain and held his face tightly, cursing out Dom, who apologized through his laughter.

"Chief, you did well," Marcus told the Chief, helping the Spartan out of his cookie-cutter imprint. "We'ed have died, who knows how many times, if you hadn't been here."

"Don't start thanking anyone yet," the Spartan said. "There are many more places to be killed before we're rescued."

"You're just like Baird, you know that?" Mark commented.

"Quiet down for a second," Marcus growled, back in his serious tone. He held up his hand to his ear and listened hard as he called the King Raven. "Anya, this is Marcus! Re-direct the King ravens to Almberg City park- we… ended up having to abandon Section A-12; got to hot for us to handle."

"I hear you Marcus, loud and clear," Anya's rejoicing voice returned. "You said you were where?"

"Almberg City, specifically," Mark commented, all traces of hostility gone," central park."

"Almberg city? That's miles away!"

"We move fast- besides, it took us all night," Marcus said, spotting fast color being painted on the horizon. "Can we get some-"

"Marcus, the King Ravens can't pick you up in the park, there aren't any good LZ's. Find us a good spot to pick you up. In the meantime," She added, making sure that they could not disagree with her," I'll have several choppers in the area incase things get too hot again, and we'll risk getting you guys out of there, okay?"

Marcus considered the plan. Find a good, open place to get the hell out of there, and then go home. "Okay, but after this, we're done for anything at least for one full day."

"You bet! Get going you guys!" Anya called.

"Roger that," Mark said.

"Delta and Alpha out," Marcus finalized, removing his hand, no longer needing to hear anything from that intercom. "Well, lets think. What's a good place to-"

"What chu' you talking about?" Cole said, smiling at them, superiority etched in his face. "No need to think! Of course there's a good place to get out of here!"

"Oh yeah?" Baird hotly returned," and what's that, oh mighty one?"

"We just got to go play some thrashball," he said, pointing to the dark outline of a long-since used Thrashball stadium.

* * *

Ah, well. It's been a while, has it not? But don't worry, it was not school that held me back. Oh no, not laziness, or emo-tide. It was OSAMA BIN LADIN. Yes, he kidnapped me, and forced me into a sadistic little game where I tell him everything I know about the game Contra…

Okay that's entirely horse shit, but I need to dick around or else I feel I'll be impaled by you faithful readers. Speaking of impaled, I need to die again- it's been more than a month since I've killed myself randomly!

But before we get to all that random-stuff… Did I deliver? What do you think? What small things would you like to see in the coming chapter? Hu? HU?

Now as for the former requests, I have seen them and I do plan on doing them. But I'll say a chapter or two before hand when that request will be fulfilled- So don't worry.

(Albert Wesker, from the Resident Evil series walks into the room, in his usual entirely black outfit)

Woah, I guess it's time for some death, hu?

Wesker: Oh no, I just came to make sure you were still alive and writing. Its been quite a while since you hit this story, and I tired of waiting. So, here I am.

Sorry to disappoint man… but (points to completed chapter) I just finished it.

Wesker: You mean to tell me that I walked all the way from AFRICA-

How'd you walk from Africa? There's a body of water called the Atlantic Ocean blocking your path!

Wesker: (acting like he didn't hear EZB) just to see that you already completed the chapter I CAME HERE TO MAKE YOU WRITE UP!??!

…Yes?

Wesker: You will pay for this! (pulls out a Samurai Edge Pistol, and puts a clean shot in EZB's eye. The writer stumbles around, gripping the wounded eye in pain, not noticing Wesker coming closer. As the maniacal villain gets close enough for a 'X Cobra Strike' to appear in his vision, Albert Wesker pulls his right fist back, and thrusts it forward, smashing EZB hard enough to not only send him flying though his home _and_ through a large Eighteen-wheeler truck _and_ _then_ six other various famous movie scenes, but also cause his head to explode open in sheer awesomeness)

Wesker: That's right, fools. I owned him.


	37. Time for a Rehaul

Fellow readers of Men of War, I have come with news I know you all have been waiting for. To put it bluntly, Men of War needs a re-haul. When this was started roughly two years ago, it was just before Gears of War 2 came out, and soo much has changed and developed since that. Sera is a massive world with its own history now instead of a blank slate I can make into my own. In other words, Men of War is out-dated already. So while I hate doing this, Men of War is cancelled. It will still be out, but I am done with it for now.

However…

Coming in August 2010 will be Men of War: Ultimate. Everything you liked about the later chapters in terms of characters, battles, scenes and everything that was lacking in the earlier chapters will be added and turned into the story I think you guys deserve. By September, Men of War: Ultimate will be out, and the first twenty chapters will be updated daily. Since I need to do a lot of research into Sera and have the information I need available, I can promise a much more cohesive and compelling telling of the story that you all seem to love.

For now though, as a final 'word' on Men of War, I would like to celebrate my first honest to god 'surprise'- a story that the readers loved more than I could have ever expected. So if you want to join this last celebration, just tell me what you guys loved most about the story. Suggestions and requests will also be considered since I have the chance to wipe the slate nearly clean and start fresh, so you guys can have a say in what you want.

So me first-

I love the sheer awesomeness that The Chief and the Gears get themselves into whenever they try escaping one problem, and yet find themselves into a bigger one, but still manage to escape. It's a great time to write and to read.

Your turn.

It has been an amazing privilege to write for you guys. I still will be actively writing my Hellsing Story, and have yet ANOTHER story in the works ( a team fortress 2 idea at that). You guys have really pushed me to write better and better, and once again thank you for the continued support, critique, and love I get from this story.

I'm getting all mushy. GAY.

I'll see you rabid M.O.W. readers in August! Otherwise pop into my other stories to see what you like!

EZB, Signing off…

For now.


End file.
